Dream Life Vol II Chapter 39.1: “The Guardian”

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 It was the afternoon of October 3rd.

 

 

 By chance, I had an encounter with a female spearman named Beatrice Laval.

 

 She is a third-rank adventurer, and we decided to have a mock battle on the condition that if she agreed, she would become my guardian.

 

 

 The guild’s training hall, like those in other cities, is about 20 by 30 meters. Inside, about ten adventurers and mercenaries were training hard.

 

 

 Beatrice picked up a reasonable training spear hanging on the wall and said, “I hear you’re a magic swordsman. I hear you’re pretty good one too,” while, pointing to a wooden sword on the wall.

 

 I chose one well-balanced wooden sword and stood about ten meters away from her. Then I asked, “What about magic?”

 

 She smiled loosely and said, “At this distance, it’s going to be difficult to just cast a normal spell. I’ll let you shoot first.” The adventurers who were training also knew Beatrice’s ability, or perhaps they were smiling with the same relaxed expression on their faces.

 

 

(I am being underestimated, huh? Typically, you don’t let a magician shoot first… but I can’t let her get hurt, so I can’t use fire magic. It’s not like I’m going to show them my original magic… or, on the contrary, I might as well show them my original magic and surprise them.) (Zack)

 

 

 I said, “Then let me attack first,” and began to chant the spell of my best magic, Swallow Cutter.

 

 

“O Wentus, God of Wind, who commands all the winds in the world. Grant mine thy swallow-winged blade that dances in the heavens, I offer the power of mine life to thee as payment. Come forth! Swallow-winged blade, Swallow Cutter.” (Zack)

 

 

 A transparent magical swallow flies out from my right hand. I raise the swallow to a great height and recite the same incantation again.

 

 After about five seconds, a second swallow appeared, this time crawling on the ground toward Beatrice.

 

 I aimed for a simultaneous attack by two swallows.

 

 

 When I had previously asked Sharon how to control the swallows, I realized that they could be controlled autonomously. It takes time to activate the magic, but after activation, the swallows only need magic power to maintain them, and then they fly away on their own. In other words, I thought that the only time I needed to concentrate was when I activated the magic, and once that was done, I could shoot another magic.

 

 

 When I produced the first swallow, Beatrice had a curious look on her face as she saw magic for the first time. But when the swallows began to dance around the ceiling of the training area, her expression turned quizzical as she wondered what they were going to do. Then, when I produced a second swallow, his expression changed to one of astonishment and she exclaimed, “Multiple simultaneous activation of magic!”

 

 I grinned widely at her expression.

 

 

(Once you allow the magician to launch a preemptive attack, you’re off your guard. I don’t mean to hurt you, but let’s make you more surprised.) (Zack)

 

 

 After I sent out the second swallow, I immediately applied my Magical Combat skills to my leg and closed the distance at once.

 

 

 Here’s my plan.

 

 I keep the first Swallow Cutter circling in the sky, while I summon the second Swallow Cutter. The first swallow will follow my initial instructions and after ten seconds will circle behind Beatrice and aim for the back of her head. The second swallow timed it so that it would aim at her knee from the side. In the meantime, I apply magical combat skill on himself and lunges at her from the front.

 

 In other words, my strategy was to attack from three directions simultaneously.

 

 

 Of course, I imagined that the blade of the [Swallow Cutter] would not be sharp enough to cause a fatal wound. One of the reasons I chose [Swallow Cutter] is that it can be adjusted in this way. This kind of adjustment is difficult with the [Fireball].

 

 

 Beatrice panicked at first when the swallows attacked, but she quickly understood the situation and took action.

 

 She saw that I was aiming for a simultaneous attack and approached me as if she were flying.

 

 

 This time I was the one who panicked.

 

 I had been on the alert that she might come toward me. However, the sharpness of her movement was far beyond my imagination.

 

 Even though she was nearly two meters tall, she instantly closed the distance between us as if she had been bounced by a spring. Her speed was so fast that it surpassed my own Magical Combat skill, and my reaction was slightly delayed. Furthermore, my attack was thrown off-timing by this movement, and my plan of a three-way simultaneous attack by the two swallows and myself fell apart.

 

 

 She dodged the swallows approaching from behind without even turning her head, and just in time for them to fly to her, she struck them with her spear. The magical swallow was obliterated by the blow.

 

 I was astonished at the way she moved, because she avoided the attack coming from right behind her with perfect timing, and anticipating that my swallows would attack again, she struck them down first.

 

 

(How could she have timed her attack to coincide with the swallows’ arrival without looking back? So this is what they call a top-notch adventurer…) (Zack)

 

 

 That was not all.

 

 With the same momentum, she extended her two-and-a-half-meter wooden spear sharply, and explosively. I managed to deflect the blow, which was aimed at my face, by parrying it with my sword to deflect its trajectory.

 

 But it seemed to be a feint. She immediately pulled back her spear and threw three consecutive thrusts at me. The speed was nothing compared to the first thrust. I was hit squarely in the stomach by one of her meteoric thrusts and was blown to the ground.

 

 

(Ouch! At times like this, it’s tough not having armor…) (Zack)

 

 

 That’s what I thought as I threw up the juices and what was in my stomach and thrashed around on the ground.

 

 

 But she wasn’t left unharmed either.

 

 One of my magic swallows flew low and hit her in the back of the thigh. Beatrice staggered slightly and was still unable to get up properly and thrust her spear at the ground.

 

 The hit point, as expected, did not hit the border of the armor, which was my first target, but it was a solid hit to the back of her thigh. If it was not a mock fight and the power was normal, my [Swallow Cutter] had the ability to penetrate leather armor, so although we did not go exchange blows, it was a coup de grace.

 

 

 I spit out the sour gastric juice in my mouth once more and tried to stand up with my wooden sword as my cane.

 

 Beatrice had lost her previous cheerful mood and looked down at me with cold eyes, not saying a word.

 

 

 I stood up, looked her in the eye, and fearlessly said, “Would you like to have another battle? This time without magic.”

 

 She still didn’t open her mouth, just stared at me.

 

 The adventurers, who had been smiling and laughing before the game began, had similarly lost their expressions and remained silent.

 

 

 Worried that I had done something wrong, I asked again, “Well, are we done here?”

 

 Beatrice shook her head slightly and muttered, “Who are you?” in a hoarse voice.

 

 

“I’m Zacharias Lockhart. A student at Tyria Magic Academy. Nothing more, nothing less.” (Zack)

 

 

 She shook her head again and muttered, “Oh.”

 

 

“Haven’t seen something like you in a long time. I’m sorry I was so surprised… Earlier, I was looking down on your magic.” (Beatrice)

 

 

 She apologized for making me shoot the magic first. Then she laughed at me, saying, “I can’t laugh at Terry because of this.” I got a good impression of her with a dry chuckle.

 

 I asked with a smile, “So, what are you going to do? Are we still doing it?”

 

 She said, “This time without magic,” holding a spear.

 

 

 I nodded in agreement, and after secretly using Magical Combat on my legs and arms, I slowly readied my sword.

 

 

(I guess Magical Combat doesn’t count as magic. But still, it’s a completely different and impervious posture from before…) (Zack)

 

 

 In the end, it was one-sided after that.

 

 She continued to attack in an ever-changing pattern, and I was unable to enter close even once. Her spear made a wall of spears with each thrust, and then she would come at me, undulating like a snake. The spear is not actually bending, but it appears to be so fast that it leaves an afterimage.

 

 She also attacked me with a thrust while spinning her body, so even with my legs strengthened by Magical Combat, I could not get close to her at all.

 

 At first, I managed to catch her with my sword, but soon my body was unable to react, and her spear began to graze my arms, legs, and even my torso.

 

 In an attempt to break out of that situation, I tried to incorporate tricky movements such as sweeps and flips, but such feints had no effect at all.

 

 In the end, a spear was thrust at my throat, and I let go of the sword.

 

 

 With ragged breath, I bowed my head and said, “Thank you very much. It had been a long time since I had received instruction from a skilled martial artist.” and words of gratitude naturally came out of my mouth.

 

 

 Beatrice finally smiled at my words, and said, “You don’t need to thank me,” as she released her stance.

 

 

“But are you really ten years old? You’re good enough to go toe-to-toe with the guys behind you without magic.” (Beatrice)

 

 

 She said this in astonishment, but quickly said, “I’ll take you up on the guardianship.”

 

 But then she continued, “But there are conditions.”

 

 

“Conditions? What kind of conditions?” (Zack)

 

 

 When I asked that, Beatrice grinned,

 

 

“Oh, it’s easy. All you have to do is join a party with me. ” (Beatrice)

 

 

 Without thinking “Huh?”, I raised my voice.

 

 That’s right. Beatrice is a third rank adventurer, in other words, a veteran adventurer. Even if a top adventurer like Liddy or Guy, Sharon’s father, had asked a kid like me to join their party, the normal reaction would be to be more stunned than surprised.

 

 Thinking I must have misheard her, I asked politely, “Could you repeat that?”

 

 She smiled again with the ferocity of a wild animal and repeated, “The condition of guardianship is that you have a party with me.”

 

 I was at a loss to understand and asked Liddy in a whisper, “What do you think?” But Liddy turned away and said, “Do what you want.” It seemed that she was upset that I had asked Beatrice to be my guardian.

 

 I was at a loss,

 

 

 

“Is it a permanent commitment in forming a party, or is it a one-time thing?” (Zack)

 

 

 

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