章節 31: Chapter 31 : Petronella Assumption
In his duel with Theobauld, Allen managed to injure Theo's ear easily.
"How did he do that?" said Felicia.
Theobauld's blood was flowing from his ear quite a lot.
"I was wrong. It seems I underestimated you too much. I didn't need to hold back from the start."
Theobauld made a circular attack. He slashed his sword with his right hand, spinning backward. Allen instantly blocked Theo's sword with his sword.
-CLANG
As a result, Allen was thrown back slightly.
"He's so strong. This sword won't last long." There was a small crack on Allen's sword, a mark from Theo's attack earlier.
Theobauld turned back, facing Allen. Theobauld's stance had shifted from before. He held his sword with both hands. The tip of his sword was positioned at the level of Allen's neck, and his eyes looked at Allen's whole body like he was focusing on Allen's movements.
Allen once again approached Theo quickly; this time, he intended to take his right ear. But...
-CLANK
It can't. Theo managed to block Allen's attack with his sword.
"Damn, I couldn't see any gaps in the stance," Allen grumbled.
"This is swordsmanship taught by my teacher from another world. He also had the same hair color as you. By pointing the sword at you and grasping it with both hands. All I need to do is watch your movements. That way, I know which part of my body you are after and can defend it quickly. Of course, it's not just for defense..."
Theobauld moved forward slowly and deliberately as he swiped her feet forward.
'What is he trying to do?' thought Allen.
Then, without Allen realizing it, Theo was already in front of Allen.
-THWACK
Without using the blade of his sword, Theobauld hit Allen's head so hard that he fell.
"UGH!!!" Allen immediately grasped the ground and pushed his body with his hands, and he backed up.
Allen held his head, which was hurting badly.
'How come? He looks like he disappeared,' thought Allen.
"Hoo… you still haven't fainted with that. Your head must be really hard, just like your stubbornness." Theo then remembered his feelings when he tried to split Allen's arm before.
'This kid's body is not normal. I thought it was a coincidence, but now I'm sure. Back then, when this kid was holding Lady Isabelle's hand, I intended to split his wrist, but my sword could only split half of it.
At first, I thought it was because the bars were so strong that they stopped my blade from reaching his hand. But I was wrong. My sword did not fail to reach him; it was unable to split his hand. As proof now, I had almost used up half of my strength, which usually makes other soldiers faint. But he's now standing up straight, as if he'd just been thrown a stone.
I admit that if I keep my strength up, I won't be able to beat this kid. I have to be serious. But if I'm serious, then this kid could die.'
Theobauld finally chose to end the fight immediately. Actually, he didn't want to kill Allen, so he intended to surrender, but he had already made a pact with Allen using Isabelle's name in it. So he couldn't lose.
"Hey," called Theobauld.
"Hah?"
"You must have realized that I didn't even use the blade of my sword. You would be dead if I used the blade just now."
"What the heck? I was also aiming for your ears before. If I had stabbed your heart, you'd be dead now."
"Yeah, MAYBE. But that is not the point."
"What?"
"You said you can beat that guy, right? That person is much stronger than me, meaning that if I beat you here, you're not worthy of fighting that person. It's only fitting that he can kill your mother; you're so weak. Your mother died not because of that man's fault but because you couldn't protect her. "
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
'His body is strong, but he's still a kid. With just a little provocation, he will become uncontrollably angry.'
Allen moved quickly towards Theobauld, angrily.
Because of his anger, Theobauld could easily see the direction of his attack. Allen attacked the neck, Theobauld dodged it, then continued to spin to kick the waist, Theobauld dodged it, and then Allen spun once more like a diagonal somersault, trying to attack Theobauld's entire body, but Theobauld dodged it as well. Theobauld tilted his sword so that Allen's sword rubbed against his sword without hitting his body.
'Great flexibility, but too many wasted moves,' thought Theobauld, amazed.
"What the heck is that move? Hey Rachel, how does he do something like that?" Felicia asked Rachel.
Rachel, who was also amazed at Allen's flexibility, shook her head,
"I don't know, my lady, but you shouldn't try to emulate that."
Theobauld, who had understood the pattern of Allen's attack, now used his body to rush forward, pushing Allen's body with his shoulders by diving down. So that Allen's body fell and was crushed by Theobauld's body. As Theobauld pushed him, he also brought his elbow close to Allen's chest. Allen's chest was pierced by Theobauld's elbow, which pushed his body to the ground.
"GAH!" Allen, who was in pain, now found it difficult to move his body.
Theobauld stood up and trampled Allen's body repeatedly.
"AkH! AH! No!"
He continued to stomp on Allen's body brutally. Sometimes it was his head, other times it was his hands.
"Wait..." Felicia, who saw that, immediately shouted.
"HEY! That's enough! He's already lost!"
"No, he hasn't fainted and hasn't said he wants to surrender." Theobauld continued to stomp on Allen's body with all his strength.
"If anything happens, I won't use my God's blessings to heal him! Got it?! I will definitely never use my God's blessing! So STOP!"
Seeing that Allen didn't seem like he was going to give up, Theobauld used his sword. He points his sword at Allen's stomach.
"Wait, don't do that!" shouted Felicia.
Allen's body was stabbed by Theobald.
which eventually made Allen unconscious.
Felicia immediately ran over to them, looking at Allen's body, injured by Theobauld's kick and stab. Blood was pouring out of his stabbed stomach. Felicia covered Allen's wound with her hands.
"What are you doing?! You're an adult, but you're doing something like this to just a kid!"
"Look carefully, my lady. There's not much blood. My sword can't even pierce that kid's body."
Felicia removed her hand from Allen's wounded body. Felicia was surprised that there wasn't much blood coming out.
"Then, do you still think you did the right thing?" said Felicia angry.
Theobauld replied
"Of course, someone like this kid should be corrected. If I hadn't done this..."
'If I don't do this, he will definitely go to the palace by himself and die at Leofric's hands in an instant,' Theobauld continued in his thoughts.
"What?" asked Felicia, who saw that Theobauld did not continue his words.
"Nothing."
Felicia realized there was no time to deal with Theobauld, so she took her rapier and wounded her fingers.
"Hoo? "Didn't you say you weren't going to use God's blessing?"
"Shut up!"
Felicia surrounded Allen's body, flowers growing around Allen's body.
"What are you doing? Get inside my garden!" Felicia tells Theobauld.
"Thank you, my lady, but I'm fine. This ear is a form of my negligence for underestimating that kid."
"You commoner, thinking of useless things."
.
.
.
Elsewhere, in the guild and bar of the Barkaley region. Petronella sat at one of the round wooden tables inside the guild. She was reading a book, and her legs relaxed on the table without caring about people seeing something under her skirt. She didn't care because she was wearing shorts up to her knees.
It was already late afternoon. Since the raid on the floor one last time, many dungeon explorers have begun to visit the Barkaley region. Dungeons that had not been explored were very profitable for many people because there were still many minerals inside that had not been taken.
As Petronella sipped her drink, someone approached her.
"Hey, Petronella, when are you planning to return to the capital?"
It was Maurice. He was still wearing his default dungeon armor.
"Tomorrow… I just finished the report on the raid last time. Geez, just because I can write, I'm told to work like a noble."
"In fact, you are indeed a noble's daughter. Maybe that is also the reason why you wrote the report."
"Cih, I never liked that prince."
Petronella looked at Maurice's armor, then asked
"You just got out of the dungeon? How was the dungeon?"
Maurice sat on the chair on the other side of Petronella. But even though he sat down, Petronella still hadn't lowered her feet from the table.
"Nothing in particular. The dungeon is still the same as the other dungeons. It turns out that the only strange thing about this dungeon is the first floor. "From the second to the fourth floors, it's just like any other dungeon," Maurice explained.
"Hoo, it's already the fourth floor. Amaaziiing..." Petronella praised in a weak tone.
"So, how was the report? What did you fill in?" asked Maurice.
"Almost everything. I explained my opinion about Queen Orc and, of course, about that boy too."
"Almost? Not everything?"
Petronella held out her hand to Maurice. Asking him for money.
Maurice took four gold coins from his pocket and placed them on Petronella's hand.
"It's still not enough, but it's okay. Since we've been to the same party three times, I'll give you some secret information."
Petronella lowered her feet from the table, put down her book, and took another sip of water from her glass.
"First, that orc kid's hair color, you know about that, right?
"Yes, black hair, just like an other-worlder. It's said that only people from another world have black hair, and if an other-worlder marries a person from this world, there's no way their child will also have black hair. So only other-worlders have black hair. But I seem to recall that he also has a few strands of white hair on his head."
"That's it… That boy's hair isn't just black. If it's just black, we can confirm that he's an other-worlder. But that white hair… that's the strangest. He's like the Norttish, the white-haired humans, who were genocided by our first king, William Wildehall, 300 years ago."
Maurice then thought for a while and said,
"Then you're saying that the boy might be one of the Norttish survivors?"
Petronella now took another sip of her water, then said
"This has to do with the second one.
There's a reason why otherworlders have black hair and Norttish have white hair. It lies in how they absorb mana.
Simply put, black-haired people never absorb mana during their lifetime. That's why other-worlders have black hair. Because in their world, the concept of mana doesn't exist, I have heard from one of the other-worlder in Prince Eldritch's party that the color of the hair in their world is based on something called 'melanin,' not mana like in our world.
White-haired people, on the other hand, absorb mana far too much. Do you know why the Norttish were genocided, and even their existence was not allowed in the kingdom and included in the first chapter of the criminal code book?"
"That's because the church forbade its existence? If I'm not mistaken, the 4th Archbishop of the Great Church confirmed the danger of a Norttish existence. The mana explosion that happened a hundred years ago was also because of the Norttish, right?"
Petronella shook her head,
"You're right but also wrong. The covenant of water, fire, soil, and air, the 120th verse, contains a white-haired nation with extraordinary mana absorption power so that only at the age of 5, they already obtain God's blessings.
Then verse 121 contains the statement that the white-haired nation can cause mana explosions that destroy the surrounding area. One of the kingdom's western regions proves the contents of verses 120 and 121. Barony Carleon hides the Norttish, leading to a mana explosion that makes the region explode and then become barren and poisonous. Even the fairies don't want to enter that region."
"And, which part did you say I was 'wrong'?" Maurice was confused.
Petronella then answered
"The church never forbade its existence. It only provided information about the Norttish. The council and the royal family were the ones who banned them and killed all the Norttish."
"Is...is that so... Then what does this story of yours have to do with that child?"
"Before I say it, you must promise not to tell anyone about this."
Petronella drew a symbol that was not water, soil, fire, or air, in front of Maurice.
"This is?"
"A non-elemental spirit's symbol. It's one of the amnis I learned from this book. I stole it from the capital's library."
Maurice immediately shook his head, "You really..."
"Don't worry, it's already fully mine; it's my reward for that raid."
"Then fine, I promise not to tell anyone."
Petronella looked at the symbol. It wasn't glowing, which meant Maurice wasn't lying.
"That child is about 12. Did you know that 12 years ago, a nobleman hid Norttish in his house? The kingdom killed the noble's entire family for hiding the Norttish, but it is said that the hidden Norttish were never found. So that orc kid may be the son of the escaped Norttish. And not only that, but he might also be the child of an other-worlder. Other-worlders and Norttish both have weak genes, so they can't pass on their genes to their children. But if they're both weak, the child might get both genes. The child is probably half Norttish and half other-worlder."
"What?! Then isn't he dangerous to humans? What if he causes a mana explosion?"
"No one knows about that, but even though he went berserk in the dungeon, the mana explosion didn't happen. Moreover, he has two types of mana. If one of his mana is about to explode, chances are that the other one will calm him down. That's also the reason Leofric hid the child from many people and asked you to lock his mana gate, right?"
"Yes, but my ability is only valid for three days. The kid's gate will reopen soon."
"No need to worry. Like I said earlier, the mana explosion won't happen because he has two mana."
"I understand. But you still haven't explained why he can have demonic mana."
"I don't know about that."
"But you must have some assumptions about it, right?"
"You ask too many questions. I told you I don't know. If I knew, I would tell you! Go away!"
"Alright..."
Maurice then stood up and walked out of the guild.
"Oh! I'm going straight to the capital today. You better hurry too. I heard that the queue at the capital gate is getting longer because of the whitmoon festival," said Maurice.
"Don't worry. I can enter through the north gate."
Maurice raised his hand, signaled, "see you later," and left the guild.
As for Petronella, she sat back and relaxed, putting her feet up on the table while reading a book.
She was thinking,
'Unfortunately, the amnis I used was only to check your honesty, Maurice. It's not a contract for silence. So there is still a chance you will spread the information I gave you, which is why I can't tell you more.'
Petronella picked up her glass and drank from it. But no water in it.
"Serfs! More water!"
Petronella looked at her book, but she didn't read it. She was still thinking.
'If my assumption is correct, that kid must have never absorbed divine mana in his entire life. Inside the dungeon, there is only demonic mana. Then, since the Norttish have extraordinary mana absorption, plus the genes of other-worlders who have unlimited mana capacity, it could be that the orc kid's gate forcibly absorbs demonic mana since there is no divine mana for him to absorb inside the dungeon.'
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