Chapter 38.

Raphtalia felt a little odd realizing just how cynical Mr Adrian really was. A lot of things made sense, his caution when it came to entering both this town and the previous one, the reason why he always made sure that she never faced a living monster that was truly dangerous, even why he didn't want her to fight despite leveling her up. She didn't think he was scared...but he was someone who was always thinking about the worst.

"You're not going to stop helping them," she pointed out after a moment of thought, "Mr Adrian, I know that you must have at least some ideas on how to help them in the future as well. Maybe he's happy because he knows that."

He snorted and then waved his hand dismissively, "Ideas? Sure I have a few, but it's nothing concrete and even then I can't imagine anything that can keep them safe from the Slave Hunters in the long run. Not when they've got the King and practically every nearby noble family prepared to hunt them down."

Raphtalia felt a little off-balance, "the King?" she asked.

The Sword Hero turned to look her straight in the eye, "Rabier confirmed my suspicions. Aultcray gave a direct order to see the Demi-humans in the Seaetto Region executed or enslaved. It's why there was such a massive response and why the Lord of the Region found himself killed," his voice was calm, but she could hear the undertone of fury, "combine that with the monsters from the wave and, well...it was basically is a death sentence for every single person in this territory. I have no way to stop that right now...well, not without going to extremes."

Raphtalia was suddenly reminded of the fact that Rabier had found a recording in a crystal ball, a recording of her home being destroyed, she swallowed once she realized that they must have planned the attack on her home otherwise they would have never known that they needed proof. It had to have been sanctioned otherwise they would not have wantedto keep proof.

She wanted to laugh or cry or something. The King wanted them dead.

"Then...what are we going to do?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

He sighed, all the fury and frustration leaving him, "I'm trying out a few things," he admitted, tossing a small object into the soil near them and then pouring a liquid from a bottle "this is one of them."

Raphtalia frowned and looked carefully at the colourless liquid that was clearly notwater and the small object, which was a seed of some kind, nothing happen for a long moment. Then, in an instant, as if time had suddenly started to work again at a hundred times the speed, a small plant emerged. It took seconds to go from a seedling to a plant that was half her height and less than a minute to become as tall as she was laden with fruits and flowers.

She turned to Mr Adrian who was looking at the plant with a focused look, his hands twitched this way and that, and with every subtle movement, the plant grew.

He was controlling the plant's growth.

"Mr Adrian?" she asked, "what…" Unsure of what he was doing and what to ask him she just trailed off but he seemed to understand.

"Food, water, security." he stated, "these are the absolute basics that any group of people need. With the right types of plants, it is possible to obtain all three and I have several skills and plant types inside the Swords related to plant modification." He shrugged, "I still have to experiment a bit more but I'm fairly certain that I could make a fence-like structure which could double as a food and water supply with a bit more work."

"That's amazing," she said, completely meaning it. Raphtalia hadn't even been thinking about how they could help the people here long after they had left the town but Mr Adrian already had a solution.

He made a dismissive sound, "It's a possible solution that will work well for food and water. Security, however, is the main issue and I don't have many good ideas for it. I plan to clean up the Seaetto Region of the monsters within the next two or three days so they aren't a concern, but the human hunters won't go away for good just because I hunt them down once. They have their orders." He said orders like it was a curse.

"I'm sure you'll think of something." she said firmly, "And by the time you're done with the trees and the hunting I'm sure this town will have months to think of something even without our help."

He looked at her with surprise writ over his face, for a moment he said nothing then he smiled and looked at the stars. He was silent long enough for her to assume that the conversation was over. Then, "Thank you," he said, his voice softer, "I've missed having someone who's willing to cut down on my pessimism."

She wasn't sure what to say but he simply cut down the plant in front of them and vanished an instant later after nodding at her as a farewell. Raphtalia smiled a little, happy to have helped him. She started to walk back towards the celebration, she needed to make sure that Rifana was okay.

It was only after she saw Mr Oldrin that she remembered why she had been looking for him and turned back to find him again.

The older woman in front of her winced as she was pushed off balance by Raphtalia's strike. Ms Nicol raised her hand, it was the signal they had agreed upon before that called for a stop.

She moved her spear over to her right hand and then rotated her wrists, before clenching her fists and relaxing it."You hit very, very hard," she stated, "but you need to be more aware of where you're landing your attacks if I had enough strength to counter that you then you would have been in a very bad position. Try doing something like this," she said while walking over to Raphtalia and showing her what she should have done.

Raphtalia nodded, Mr Adrian had warned her that her stats were about equal to a level 60's. Miss Nicol was only level 23. There was no chance that she could stand up to her stats. Even now Raphtalia had held back heavily. If she hadn't then Ms Nicol would probably have been hurt badly.

They tried a few more times. Nicol giving her advice on her stance, footwork and the way she was holding her blade before they sparred but eventually, the wolf demi-human frowned and sighed.

"You're too strong for me," she admitted, "it won't be good for you to learn the basics while holding back this much. Let's make sure that your form is good and that you can deflect my hits and then you could try sparring with Mr Adrian or someone else who is closer to your Level."

"Yes Ms Nicol," she stated firmly, deciding to ask Mr Adrian about sparring with him, Isis or Trystan after they were finished here. She was fairly certain that she'd have more than enough energy to spar with them. She wasn't feeling even a little tired despite the fact that they had been practising for nearly an hour and a half.

Raphtalia had asked Ms Nicol to help train her after she had a second conversation with Mr Adrian last night. A conversation about her fighting with him, Isis and Trystan. Honestly, she had expected him to refuse or at least try to convince her not to fight. She had seen how much he worried about Trystan and Isis and how reluctant he had been to have them fight the waves despite the fact that as the Sword Hero he needed to fight the waves. To her surprise, he had nodded, asked her a few questions and then commanded her to fulfil a couple of conditions.

She was happy to note that he had only asked her to get some training with her preferred weapon, magic and then made sure that she was certain that this was what she wanted. Mr Adrian had even gone up to Mr Oldrin and had spoken to him about the trees and going out to hunt the nearby monsters. The old man's gratitude had been effusive and he had been more than happy to ask Nicol to train her in using a weapon and training her magic.

Of course, Mr Adrian had warned her to be careful and had noted that he had only agreed because this meant that they would stay for longer.

Still, her progress was excellent from what Ms Nicol had said. It had been nice to know that she was genuinely talented at using a sword...even if felt a little odd to play the role of a Swordswoman in a party with the Sword Hero.

So she practised and did so for several hours. Ms Nicol eventually left to fulfil her duties as a guard and Raphtalia eventually took a small break from her practice to drink some water, have a bite of the leftovers from last night and read her Grimoire.

Raphtalia did her best to study and was making steady progress with the basic light spell, "I, the source of all power, who has studied the laws of nature, command you. Zuerst Light."

Raphtalia kept her focus on her magic power, trying her best to keep it at the forefront of her mind, as the words just entered her mind as if they had always been there. And to her surprise a small floating light actually winked into existence, she smiled at it and then winced as it suddenly brightened and blinded her before vanishing.

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes a little, trying to make the spots in her vision go away. Raphtalia stared at her Grimoire after her eyes were back to normal, a little annoyed at the odd mixture of failure and success that she had just had. Still, she took a deep breath and then started to try again when she heard the dull roar of nearly a hundred people cheering at a distance.

Raphtalia looked towards the direction of the sound curiously and was rewarded by witnessing the rapid growth of a massive tree that towered over the town. It had dozens of low hanging branches on the part that was pointing at the town and none on the opposite side, and she could tell that it was full of fruits.

She smiled as she saw Mr Adrian fly up to one of the higher branches, pick up some of the fruits and then move back down. Another cheer went up soon after and Raphtalia had to admit to some curiosity, after all, she had never seen the finished product nor had she sampled the fruits.

It didn't take her very long to reach the site where Mr Adrian was planting the trees, it was a little far from the borders of the town, likely Mr Adrian just being cautious, but by the time she had reached there, he had already planted three trees and was working on the fourth.

Mr Oldrin spotted her before anyone else, "Young lady!" he said, his voice excited and disbelieving, two different types of fruits in his arms, but before he could say more, one of the children arrived, dragging her friend along with herself and started babbling at Raphtalia after offering her some of the fruit.

"Thank you," she said with a smile, patting the girl's head, taking a bite and then blinking at the odd sour-sweet taste of the yellow fruit. It was soft, yet firm enough that it was easy to hold, it felt dry but a single bite unleashed a lot of flavours. Raphtalia had never tasted anything like it...though given that Mr Adrian had somehow createdthe tree that bore it she shouldn't have been surprised.

Raphtalia nodded at Mr Oldrin before walking up to Mr Adrian who was carefully observing the planted trees, manipulating their growth so that there was some space in between them, it took her a moment to realize that he was making a gate.

"Raphtalia," he said in lieu of greeting her, without turning around, "Is there something you need?"

She could tell that he was still a little distracted so she just shook her head and observed. He nodded despite not looking at her and continued his work, he finished his modifications and she noted that it would probably take another ten or so trees before the entire town was covered and so she followed him along with the rest of the townsfolk as he planted the trees' in a circular pattern around town. He made sure to have only one gate and that there were several locations for sentries to be placed.

Once they were done Mr Oldrin walked up to Mr Adrian who was still carefully observing the final plant he had placed and bowed deeply, "Thank you, Sir," he said, "We can never repay you for your kindness. If there is anything at all that we can do…"