Claire's Past

-- Claire's POV --

"After some of my companions decided to join me, we left our homeland, we travelled to various places. The world was bigger than we thought it was. There exists many types of magical beasts and races. One particular race we found was the Sea race. Mermens and Mermaids living together deep inside the oceans. They could live on land or in water. Their bodies change when they are in the sea or when on the land to adapt. We accidentally discovered them when our ship was damaged due to a harsh storm. We were travelling to the dragon continent. Unlike many races the Sea race were very friendly and helped us. We were happy to find out that they were mostly unaffected by the disasters that happened years ago. They have powerful protection spells and barriers to shield them. We couldn't breathe underwater so our stay their was very short. We managed to repair our ship with magic and continued on with the journey. The dragon continent was very... well open. It seems that a single dragon will claim a very large area as their home. Some dragons do not possess much intelligence but other are extremely powerful and intelligent. They could even take human like forms to speak with other races. At first we were attacked by some beast like dragons. We managed to repel them. Later we found a powerful inteligent dragon. His name was Faron. Once he figured out that we were just travellers and we didn't have any ill intentions, he allowed us to stay for sometime and talk. He said that the disasters that occurred years ago was because of the intense magic that concentrated on the battlefield which somehow disrupted the planet's mana flow. It caused a chain reaction that made the planet's control function go berserk which resulted in those natural disasters. We couldn't help but feel that we were responsible. The dragons didn't seem to hold that much of grudge against the 4 nations it seems. Faron said that their race have different mindsets from other races due to their long lifespans and beastly nature. Most dragons sleep for years. They hold strength in high regards so they often test there strength against the strong. They are very protective. They tend to live a simple life. After our stay concluded we returned and tried to visit the dwarf nation but we were not welcomed..." - Claire

"Wait! How did the dragons know about the reason for the natural disasters?" - Rain

"That is because the dragon race are acquainted with a different race called the Spirit race. This race consists of species called drayads, naiads, fairies and many more. They have very unique abilities. For example the drayads have special type of connection with the earth. They can sense the planet's magic flow to a certain extent. The dragon race and the Spirit race have always helped eachother. That's how they learnt about the cause for the disasters." - Claire

"I see.. There are so many races out there.." - Rain

"Yes. Maybe there are many more. We went our separate ways after that. Some returned home, some tried to visit other nations or unexplored areas. I decided to visit the human nation. I managed to enter thanks to Varrick and Lord Frey. Luckily I was not driven out. There were some occasional attacks or kidnapping attempts against me but nothing I couldn't handle." - Claire

"Did you find someone special?" - Rain asks me with her multicolored eyes sparkling.

She figured it out. Is she is really a child? Why do I feel that there is something off about her. But I know she is not the type to perform misdeeds.

"Yes... I decided to conceal myself as human with magic and stay in this village for sometime before leaving. That was when I met him..." - Claire

"WHO?" - Rain

"Luck. He was different from everyone I met so far. He was very friendly. He had black eyes and hair. A cute face if I should say. A well trained physique. I met him when I decided to work at adventurer's guild here. The guild was something that was quite recent at the time. They took in requests from people who offered appropriate rewards for adventurers who would complete them. From simple errands to battling monsters or even exploring unexplored areas like dungeons. I and Luck did a magic beast extermination request together. I was surprised by his strength. I thought he didn't even have the amount of magic power that an average elven soldier would have. But the way he fought was incredible. His sword technique was precise, fast and strong. His mana control was so good that it surpassed mine. After the quest was completed I asked him about it. He told me that he actually had poor magic power. So at the beginning he decided to take the sword. After training with the sword for sometime he realised if how you use the sword can make all the difference then could the same be true for magic as well. So he decided train his mana and sword at the same time. A bit similar to Varrick's magic swordsmanship. At first his mana was a bit erratic but with time and effort he managed to control it. Later he had focused on combining it with his sword. Quests were alright for sometime until stronger extermination quests started appearing. He realised he needed to get stronger. At those times there were no adventurer training facilities available like now. You could only learn properly if you joined the military. But this didn't stop Luck. He knew it was the heart that produced mana. His disadvantage was that unlike the rest he couldn't produce and store enough mana in his heart. He started to see if he could manually control his heart. After countless failures he finally succeeded. He trained his heart to generate and store more mana. His high mana control as a result reached a high level. His magic became concentrated. After we became friends by doing more quests together he even started learning magic spells from me and started using them in combat. I was starting to get irritated seeing his hard work and improvements. He had not participated in the war or was particularly talented but here he was about to reach my level of strength when I was much more experienced and talented than him. I challenged him to a spar which he happily agreed. I beat him. From then on he started challenging me again and again. I won all the times. But I couldn't help but get more irritated as he was improving too quickly. The moves I used to defeat him never worked after sometime. He was getting faster and sharper each time. Finally one day he challenged me again. The look on his face was like he struck gold after so many years. The fight started..."

-- That Time --

I charged at him at lightning speed with body strengthening magic. He also activated body strengthening. Our swords clashed.

*Clang*

I retreated a few steps and charged at him again, this time a fury of sword attacks at lightning speeds.

*Clang*

*Clang*

He is able to defend against all these techniques now. Just what are you?

His magic power concentrated. With incredible body strengthening his launched a strong heavy horizontal sword attack at me.

*CLANG*

I defended it with my sword but I was still send flying back due to the sheer force. Infuriating... I tried to train myself like him as well. To concentrate my magic power but he had an incredible headstart on me. It is going to take me some time to catchup to his level of control. Why didn't I realise this type of mana technique sooner. Come to think of it I was always arrogant back in my homeland due to my talent and magic power capacity. I promised myself to take train myself seriously from now on.

"It's not over yet. FIRE SPEAR" - Luck

He launched a spear of fire at me.

I sidestepped to dodge it but it changed it's direction towards me. Oh that's new. So I countered it with my own spell.

"ICE WALL" - Claire

An ice wall manifested blocking the fire spear. At this time I saw that luck was charging at me with his sword. The sword was radiating with concentrated mana.

Although he can concentrate mana much more than me to perform powerful physical attacks. My sword style is still able to defend against them.

*Clang*

*Clang*

*Clang*

Instead of facing the attacks head on I started redirecting them. I can then use his own power against him.

"Luck, I must admit that you have come quite far but this is where it ends." - Claire

I redirected quite a heavy strike from him to the side. He used quite a bit of power on that, so now I have an opening to strike. I went in for the finisher. My strongest sword thrust to his stomach. Of course I would stop at the last second as this is just a spar.

But then..

"Yes. The end where you lose. ICE WALL" - Luck

I was shocked as a tilted ice wall appears near his stomach redirecting my strike away from his body. My own momentum now leaves me open. How did he do that, it is extremely hard to perform a magic spell in the middle of a heated sword exchange.

I managed to stop myself but it was already too late as his sword was stopped an inch away from my neck.

"It is finally my victory." - Luck

"..." - Claire

The surrounding crowd of adventurers who we didn't realise had been watching the fight for sometime started cheering.

"Way to Luck. You made all the men proud."

"Noo.. how could Claire lose."

"Both of you are so strong."

"Luck, this calls for a celebration as it's your first victory against her."

At guild hall after the celebrations had died down. I was thinking about the fight. I was sad about losing but I couldn't help but feel happy as well. When I looked at Luck I knew I won't be going home anytime soon. I wanted see how far he could go. I wanted to be their with him by his side. So I went to him and..

"Hey Luck. Don't think that this is over. I want a rematch tomorrow." - Claire

Luck turned to me and smiled with a determined look.

"Yeah. I want to beat you at your strongest afterall." - Luck

"What.. how could you..." - Claire

"After I learnt magic combat from you. I could feel that you were always using somekind of spell. Don't know what though. Onetime I noticed that one of your ears flickered, I could swear that they seemed elfish. I was suspicious of it since then. But once I realised you really didn't have any ill intentions I decided to trust you." - Luck

"Oh.. Thank you." - I said with a blushed face.

"No problem. We are friends right" - Luck said with a sweet smile.

"Urh.. Yeah" - Claire

Why do I feel angry about that...

-- Present --

"... One thing led to another, we both grew a lot stronger together, had many adventures, I confessed and we finally got together." - Claire

"He sounds very reliable." - Rain

"He was. Later we got married. We were happy for many years." - Claire

"What happened?" - Rain

"Human lifespan. He... died and I... lived on." - Claire

"So... could Ren be your s..." - Rain

"Yes he was our son. But.. he was born... dead." - Claire

"Born what... DEAD?" - Rain

My eyes started swelling. I forced myself not to cry.

"I don't know if it was caused because Luck and I were of different races which caused Ren to be born like that. But that day when he was born lifeless like that into our hands was an unbearable time. It took us quite some time to accept reality. We didn't try to have another child after that. After many years passed even Luck left me. I was thinking of going back home or... ending my own life... But that was when I met you." - Claire

"Me.." - Rain

"Yes, seeing your figure training here everyday was very interesting to see. And for me teaching you was very fun. Seeing your potential, your character and your behaviour I thought you could maybe one day bring everyone together. Even if you don't do that it's still ok. After spending sometime with you I even started to think of you as my own child." - Claire

Rain looks happy upon hearing that.

"Well if it makes you happy, feel free to think that way. I am happy as well." - Rain

-- Rain's POV --

Suddenly the air around Claire changed. A dangerous premonition flashes in my mind.

"Well then, we spend too much time on the past. Let's continue training." - Claire says as she draws her sword.

"NOO..." - Rain

My hellish day continues...