Kapitel 7: 7. It’s over

7. It's over

"Ja… JACKPOT!!! HYAAAHAAA!!!" Aether yelled. He went on for a few seconds, stunning everyone inside that loot house.

*Click

It wasn't until Aether heard a familiar voice that he realized what he was doing.

Aether froze on the spot, and then...

*Click,

That voice was heard again. He fearfully turned toward that sound. hoping it wasn't what he expected it would be.

But reality is always harsh. He turned to see Paimon... who was holding a camera.

"This is going to be a nice souvenir for Keqing," she said.

"STOP IT!!" Aether screamed from the bottom of his heart.

"Aether," Paimon said, "I've never known you had this kind of hobby." "As your companion/partner, I'll accept you however you are," Paimon said as she wiped away the fake tears. Teased by Aether for who knows how many times, Paimon also learned one or two about what is called 'sweet revenge.'

"Noo!!"

"It wasn't me!" Aether refuted this, however, when he saw the panty in his hand....

"Kugh!" He groaned "It's me, but it wasn't me at the same time!" Aether turned to others for support. But what he got were stares of pity in their eyes! as if watching a crazy person.

It was then that Aether realized only he alone could talk to Paimon at the moment. He immediately shared his mana and materialized Paimon.

*Bang

Aether defended himself from the preparatory knife. He was attacked before he had a chance to explain further.

Even when Aether easily defended himself, the preparator did not give up, saying, "My, another spirit, how wonderful." She stared at Paimon like a hunter watching its prey.

Aether didn't know the exact reason behind his urge just now. Nonetheless, he has a guess that it most likely came from the party system. Or, furthermore, from "The Adventurer Satou Kazuma."

That's why he quickly changed it to "the Crusader Lalatina."

"Ugh, I won't forgive you for this humiliation." Aether complained to her like a third-rate villain. Luckily, he wasn't able to hear what others were thinking, or he would be crawling himself into a hole right now.

As for the preparator, she didn't really care about that. That's how she's lived her life till now, and it won't change in the future.

This time, it was Aether who took the initiative. He dashed toward the preparator. "The Crusader" was tougher, stronger, and faster than "The Adventurer." Sadly, it didn't have a huge range of abilities like "The Adventurer." The majority of The Crusader's abilities boosted his body defense and turned him into a tank for others.

Still, even with that, Aether could feel that his pure stat added to the Crusader stat was much stronger than before.

Aether's instantaneous speed caught the preparator off guard for a brief moment before *swoosh he swung his dull blade.

Miss… That's right, he missed.

Because of that, the preparator took a bit of distance from Aether.

Aether was shocked a bit, but quickly calmed himself down. (It must be because of the sudden change in his strength that he lost control.)

Then, as if taking turns, the preparator swung her knives at him multiple times. Aether blocked a few; however, the rest went past and directly slashed his body.

Aether, who expected blood, was surprised once again that his body was stronger than steel; all those slashes only scratched his skin.

This is nice! At the same time, Aether was feeling a bit hyped and excited. While the preparator jumped back with wide eyes, even she was unable to hide her shock in her eyes.

"Come on!" He roared and charged at her once more. On the other hand, Paimon, sensing that something was wrong with Aether, re-prepared the camera in her hands.

*Swoosh *Swoosh *Swoooosh

a standard triple slash. It was the most textbook slash to date.

Miss, Miss, and Miss!

"Hm!?" An important note here is that the preparator had enough experience that she could more or less calculate whether an attack would hurt her or touch her or not. Because of this ability, she could evade many attacks by a hair's breadth.

That's why she remained motionless in the face of Aether's attack, and the outcome was better than she could have imagined. "Are you mocking me?" It was so stupid that she couldn't help but think that way.

"WOOOAAAAHHH!!" Aether roared a warcry and moved his hands faster and faster. *Miss *Swing *Swoosh

He slashed, cleaved, and pierced; he tested any sword technique he knew yet.

"What the heck is this?" Aether threw his dull blade to the ground. He couldn't even touch his enemy, who was standing still!

It was much more embarrassing than his conduct just now! Once again, Aether was quick to understand where this flaw came from.

On the other hand, the preparator, who thinks she was mocked by Aether, said, "Unusually, I felt irritated." She said this before she kicked Aether in the stomach, which made him push back a few steps.

Then she quickly made a follow-up attack. attacking Aether from any angle possible. With the damage accumulated, Aether also felt another incredible and unstoppable urge inside his body.

"suu haa Suuu Haaa" His breath became heavier as each moment passed. Everyone could see his face becoming red and excited. Still, the preparator ignores all of that and keeps attacking.

And then... it went past the limit!!

Aether opened both of his arms wide and said, "Su...SUBARASHII! Haa Haaa." as he breathes very heavily.

*Click

That little sound jolted Aether out of it once more. He turned toward Paimon with the camera in hand. "Let's negotiate." Aether looked at Paimon pleadingly.

"Hehe, This one is for Ayaka," Paimon laughed quietly.

"Paimon-sama!!" Aether screamed from the bottom of his heart for the second time.

*Tch

The Preparator clicked her tongue, seriously annoyed by Aether's conduct. When she tried to attack Aether from behind, she quickly jumped back to avoid the ice crystal that was shot toward her. The elf girl had already recovered.

Aether once again looked at others for support, only to realize that everyone was looking at him like trash on the side of the road except the elf girl. "Ha ha ha, it's over," Aether said, falling on his back with his soul slowly leaving his body.

***

When Aether recovered successfully after adding another black history to his black book, he was surprised when he realized he was in a moving carriage.

"Oh, you've finally awoken!" Paimon called out.

"Where are we?" Aether looked around at people other than himself. There's the elf girl, the unconscious crazy boy, and Paimon.

"We're on Lifaus Highway," the elf girl replied then she explained what happened after he lost his soul. When Aether kept the preparatory Elsa Granhiert busy, Felt, the thief, had escaped and asked for assistance. and successfully bringing Reinhard back from the household of the sword saint.

Reinhard easily defeated Elsa on his own. And Elsa assaulted the elf girl as her final struggle before fleeing.

The crazy boy, Natsuki Subaru, who was right beside her at that time, blocked Elsa's attack. However, he was injured in the middle of it.

The elf girl who felt responsible for bringing Subaru back to her base for further treatment

"And here we are on a journey to her base in Mather's territory." The elf girl ended her story.

Then Aether suddenly asked, "Then why am I here?"

"Eh?" The elf girl was surprised by an unexpected question.

"But aren't you Subaru's companion?"

"Eh? But I'm not," Aether replied.

"Aree? Aren't you looking for him?" She tilted her head.

"That's right, but I'm not his companion." "I just wanted to ask where he came from to decide where I'm going next," Aether explained.

"!?" The elf girl immediately paled, then quickly bowed, saying, "I'm really sorry." "We're turning around right now," she said, a moment later she recalled Subaru's condition next to her: "Wait, I can't! Umm, we only have one carriage... What to do? what to do!?" she cried out.

"Pfft, ahaha!" Aether couldn't help but laugh while watching her cute act. "That was cute," he said honestly, which resulted in her face being more red than ever, which was also the reaction Aether expected.

Suddenly, from under the elf girl, a white thing flew out and charged at Aether. Aether easily stopped it with his palm. "Don't tease my Lia!" The white thing said.

Aether looked at its appearance. a small cat that is both floating and standing. It was an incomprehensible thing in many ways. Aether recognized it was Puck, but he didn't say anything as he didn't know them in this run.

"Anyway," Aether said, turning his gaze away from Puck. "It's fine; you don't need to turn back. I'm a traveler; traveling and visiting many places is what I do. Though I don't have much money for my stay there."

Hearing that the elf girl's face brightened up, you don't have to worry about that. I'll invite you to my home base."

(Homebase?) Aether thought about her choice of words. before he replied, "Thanks."

At that time, "Aether!" "Look at that," Paimon called as she pointed out of the window.

Aether followed her and looked outside the window. "Wow!" exclaimed Aether in awe.

"It's bigger than the one in Monstadt." Paimon continued by saying that Aether also agreed.

Outside the window was a huge, beautiful tree. It stood sturdily as if piercing the heavens.

"Oh, it's the flugel's tree," the elf girl told them. "Legend has it that, centuries ago, a wise man named Flugel planted it." They enjoyed its beauty for a while.

Not long after, Paimon, who had already gotten bored watching the great frog's tree, said, "Oh, that's right. "Aether, you need to watch what you say toward the elf girl, who is a candidate queen of this country." She suddenly said

The elf girl instantly reacts to that, "It's okay! You guys don't have to act like that. Other than myself, there are also four other candidates." Being treated special was the last thing she wanted.

"Hee~" Aether responded uninterestedly: "Oh, I haven't introduced myself." "Just call me Aether." Aether held out his hand for a handshake.

"Eh?" The elf girl was surprised by Aether's casual response. "Is that it?"

"??" Aether was confused. "Do you want me to treat you differently?" (Didn't you say it was okay?) Aether thought.

"No!!" The elf girl immediately denied it. "I'm Emilia. Nice to meet you too." She quickly changed the topic and shook Aether's hand, saying, "Also, please don't call me an elf girl again." She said that to Paimon, "I'm sure you two heard me that time."

"I'm a half-elf."

"I'll tell her too," Aether said as he took a quick glance at Paimon. "Anyway, nice to meet you, Emilia."

"I'll be in your care for the next few days."

Emilia watched Aether's reaction with expectant eyes. And Aether didn't disappoint her. "Thank you," she said in a small voice before replying, "Nice to meet you too."