Capítulo 22: Doubt
"..."
Everything came to a standstill.
Time was frozen.
Ais gazed at the sword tip thrusting towards her chest. Her pupils, which had already contracted, narrowed even further.
"Ais—!"
Someone suddenly screamed Ais's name in panic.
Upon hearing this voice, Ais finally snapped back to reality. Her pupils, which were about to shrink to the size of a pin, suddenly burst with vivid colors.
*BOOM!*
A burst of wind wrapped around her body, transforming into a powerful shockwave that sent everything around her flying.
Riezel felt an overwhelming force coming from the front and was instantly blasted away, crashing into the courtyard wall.
"Argh—!" Riezel couldn't help but cough out all the air from his lungs as his back stung with pain.
The wind surrounding his body dispersed upon colliding with Ais's wind, so he endured the wave of the wall impact with his body directly, causing intense pain throughout.
"Are you okay?!"
Ais exclaimed and hesitated for a moment, an unusual hint of concern appeared on her face. Not just her, but even the onlookers were startled by the sudden turn of events.
"Something's wrong!" Tiona shouted in a panic.
"Wrong my ass! It's all your fault! Why did you scream?!" Tione slapped Tiona hard, scolding her sister.
The one who had screamed Ais's name earlier was Tiona. If it weren't for her scream, Ais wouldn't have instinctively used her full strength.
"I only saw Ais almost getting stabbed! I couldn't help but scream, okay!" Tiona rubbed her throbbing forehead, tearfully defending herself.
"You dumbass Amazoness!" Bete immediately cursed. "Ais used magic and had wind protection. How could that guy's sword possibly hit her?"
Indeed, even if Ais hadn't unleashed the full force of her wind to repel Riezel, his attack would likely not have caused any significant damage.
The protection of 'Ariel' would shield the user's body. Even if Riezel's sword had hit, it probably would have been blocked by the wind.
So, Tiona's scream was completely unnecessary.
"I'm sorry..." Tiona seemed to realize this too, muttering awkwardly with a hint of guilt.
"Alright, stop staring." Finn interrupted the argument. "Let's check on the rookie's condition first."
With that, Finn jumped directly out of the window, completely disregarding the fact that they were dozens of meters high.
"These brats, why are they so impulsive?" Gareth scolded while following suit and jumping down.
Meanwhile, Riveria had already descended ahead of them.
Seeing this, Bete, Tiona, and Tione followed suit, one after another, jumping from the window into the courtyard.
Only Loki remained, with one leg on the windowsill, appearing as though she was about to jump. However, upon realizing the ground was far below, her mouth twitched.
Feigning nonchalance, she quietly retracted her leg.
"Meh, forget it, as long as Finn and Riveria are there..."
Having sealed her Arcanum, Loki wisely avoided the fate of landing like a box right then and there.
One after another, Loki Familia's executives entered the courtyard, gathering around Riezel.
"Are you okay?" Riveria was the first to approach, helping Riezel up while placing a hand on his body, seemingly checking something.
"...I'm sorry."
Ais also came forward and apologized while looking at Riezel, who was standing unsteadily. She lowered her head, full of disappointment, resembling a child who had done something wrong.
Even Tiona apologized by gazing at him with eyes full of regret.
*Cough! Cough!*
Riezel coughed a few times, took a deep breath, felt the pain in his chest diminish, and then looked at the people present.
"I'm fine, no need to worry." Riezel shook his head.
His words made everyone observe his expression for a moment. After confirming that he was indeed okay, they all sighed in relief.
"That's good..."
Finn seemed like he wanted to pat Riezel's shoulder but found that he couldn't reach the shoulder. He gave up and laughed.
"Luckily, the wind helped you offset some of the impact. Otherwise, you might have to stay in bed for a few days."
"You kids really went overboard." Gareth, with a disapproving look, snorted coldly. "A little sparring is fine, but actually going all out? Do you want to kill or injure your Familia companions?"
"Indeed." Riveria said with wrinkled brows. "Ais, your reaction was too intense. You should reflect on it."
"Uhh..." Ais's head lowered even further, her expression more dejected.
"It's not her fault." Riezel, now fully recovered, defended her. "I wanted to spar with Miss Ais myself, and her counterattack was only natural."
"Even so, you guys went too far..." Tione sighed. "Seeing the way you looked like you wanted to kill Ais just now, I almost thought you were seriously fighting to death. Really, it reminded me of some unpleasant memories back home."
"Yeah, yeah!" Tiona nodded repeatedly, agreeing.
She had been genuinely scared just now, recalling some unwelcome memories. Hence, if they wanted to blame someone, it was mostly Riezel's fault. Immersed too deeply in the battle, and too trusting in Ais's strength, what should have been a more casual spar gradually turned into a serious fight. It could be said that he brought it upon himself.
"It's my fault."
Riezel admitted with self-awareness, knowing he had been too aggressive. Seeing Ais's dejected expression, he quickly reassured her.
"Please don't blame yourself anymore. After all, it's my fault. You were just defending yourself, and you didn't do anything wrong."
Hearing his words, Ais nodded, but there was still a hint of dejection on her face, making him feel a bit guilty.
However, before he could fully console her, Bete's voice interjected.
"For such a trivial matter, what's there to fuss about?" Bete stared at Riezel intensely, resembling a lone wolf intimidating something. "I'm asking you, brat, did you really just receive the blessing three days ago?"
With his question, everyone turned their attention to Riezel.
The still dejected Ais, who seemed particularly focused on this topic, also raised her head and looked over.
Riezel was momentarily surprised by the question but quickly understood what was happening, so he nodded.
"Yes, I received the blessing three days ago."
His statement was met with Bete's blunt rebuttal.
"Who do you think you're fooling, huh?" Bete spoke with his usual foul mouth. "You trying to tell me you've grown this much in just three days? I ain't buying your bullshit!"
Bete's skepticism was obvious. He didn't believe Riezel could progress so quickly, and that was perfectly reasonable.
"Judging by your recent performance, even without considering Ais's magic you used, logically speaking, you should have at least one or two basic abilities at D-rank, maybe even C-rank..." Finn calculated precisely, pondering Riezel's status.
"At least D-rank basic abilities, possibly not just one?" Gareth speculated aloud. "Man, when we reached this stage, it took us nearly a year, right?"
"The fastest among us should be Ais." Riveria glanced at the doll-like girl. "But even Ais took about half a year back then."
"Eh?" Tiona exclaimed with surprise. "Doesn't that mean he surpassed Ais's efforts in just three days?"
With her statement, everyone fell silent.
Especially Ais, who stared intently at Riezel, seemingly particularly concerned about this topic.
Riezel could only bask in the various intrigued looks from everyone, inwardly smiling wryly.
He certainly knew why everyone reacted so strongly.
After all, even Ais took so long to reach this stage initially, let alone others. Achieving such results in just three days was undoubtedly hard for people to accept.
Ais was the world record holder for the fastest advancement to Level 2. At the tender age of 8, it took her just a year to level up to high-class adventurer successfully.
Her innate skill was nothing short of being the best in the world.
However, Riezel displayed a skill that surpassed her by far and even surpassed it by so much that people found it hard to believe. But he himself didn't think much of it.
After all...
'The protagonist only took about a month to level up successfully, and at Level 1, every time his status was updated, total proficiency would increase by hundreds of points. What I did is nothing compared to him, right?'
Precisely because of this, when Loki doubted his own growth as godly, Riezel himself felt that there was nothing great about it.
The things the protagonist could effortlessly achieve with cheat after cheat, Riezel only did the same. What's there to be surprised about?
This world was also not the only one. In another anime world, faster growth and even becoming a monster who rises to the top overnight, would not be uncommon.
Therefore, Riezel really didn't think it was a big deal, so he maintained his calm and composed attitude.
"You can go ask Loki. Three days ago, when I received her blessing, my back was probably as plain as can be. She knows best."
Upon hearing Riezel's reasoning, everyone exchanged glances and simultaneously turned, heading toward Loki's room.
"You come too!"
"I want to see if this is real."
The Amazoness twins each grabbed one of Riezel's arms and dragged him with them.
Ais followed closely behind, with a determined stride.
This made Riezel realize that his status was inevitably exposed.
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