Too far away (7)

'If you don't want the fact that you have been helping Kyrisian nobles and establishing your own business to be discovered by the Nieransha Bird shop, come and visit me'

That had been the gist of the letter Calian had sent.

"I figured that might be it,"

She couldn't help but come when Calian called. How could she ignore him when the moment White Eagle found out about it, he would chase her to the end of her life.

Frowning at having to face the unexpected, Blue Warbler asked,

"Why is it that you're threatening me?"

"I need evidence that Hale Latran has been purchasing divine items and evidence that he hold information,"

"You can check with the Count for these things, do you have to call me for it?"

According to Malcolm, Hale hadn't left any documents or evidence of the deal. It seemed he was worried that he would be discovered and would have to face the executioners block.

Of course, Calian didn't fully believe everything Malcolm said so he would do another search but it was likely he wouldn't find anything.

Which is why he called for Blue Warbler.

Since there was no need to reveal to Blue Warbler that Hale had no evidence on their trade , Calian just smiled and responded,

"Well, you first,"

Calian who said so, nodded to the contract on the table, it had proactively been placed there so Blue Warbler could simply turn the page and look.

It contained the same power of oath that he had used when dealing with Silica,

"If you turn over the evidence, I'll keep your secret,"

Blue Warbler jumped to her feet and paused, she was considering whether to turn over the information or to simply kill Calian to keep his mouth closed.

She paused for a moment – and then a suffocating bloodlust erupted from her, directed entirely at Calian.

Instead of being weighed down by the pressure of her bloodlust, Calian asked in a calm tone,

"Is that your answer?"

"Well, since a tedious relationship has formed,"

Calain's gaze darkened.

"If you knew what I've become involved in because of you – you wouldn't be able to say that,"

Blue Warbler laughed brightly, and with the sound of her laughter, there came a small clicking sound.

Three bead-like things shot towards Calian – they were mana bombs made by condensing the power of the Fire Ball spell.

If even one of them hit directly, they had enough destructive force to cause for one's body to be recovered piece by piece with pincers.

It was a sudden attack, but Calian quickly created a magic shield and threw his body to the side.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The mana bombs hit the walls successively, causing the entire building to shake. Dense dust interfered with their vision and Calain opened his mouth, frowning,

"Did you come here with the sole intention to kill from the beginning?"

It was a pretty expensive item, but seeing that she had already prepared them like this, it could be said that she hadn't intended to respond to Calian's deal from the beginning.

He had prepared for an attack too, but hadn't expected a mana bomb.

'She originally used a sword – why is she suddenly using magic bombs?'

Blue Warbler handled a sword extremely well, so usually she didn't fight like shooting things like magic bombs – Calain was able to realise the reason for the change even within his surprise.

It had been none other than Bern, who had advised Blue Warbler that she could be strong enough even with a single sword in hand.

Damn!

Soon, there was another clicking sound and a magic bomb flew to where Calian's shadow could be seen.

Calain dodged and once again, an explosion rang out.

Booom!

Eventually, the wall that had endured four magic bombs collapsed.

Through the large opening in the walls, a wide view of Latran city could be seen and Calain chuckled as he looked at the mess that VIP room was in – it no longer needed windows.

"You'll end up killing them all,"

Calian could hear Yan and the Knights approaching the door.

The room wasn't big enough for multiple people or large scale fighting, and the range of the explosions was quite wide, so Calian cast his magic on the door, locking it once again.

"Don't come in!"

As the dust cleared, he could see another magic bomb in her hand. Calian didn't hesitate to pull up another shield as the magic bomb flew towards him as though it had had memorised his scent.

Calian unsheathed his sword and this time, he didn't avoid the magic bomb. This castle wasn't the Kyris Royal Place after all.

So he parried the magic bullet and allowed it hit another one of the standing walls – this time, the building shook enough to almost convince him that it would crumble down.

As the next one flew, Calian used the shield spell on his sword and hit the magic bomb, it flew out of the gap in the walls and exploded in the open air.

Blue Warbler took another step closer to Calian,

Calian shot her an annoyed look,

"Do you still have more?"

Blue Warbler unsheathed her own sword and replied,

"I don't,"

At the same time, Blur Warbler's body moved so rapidly it looked like she blurred. Her sword swung like it was flying and rushed towards Calian's neck – Calian lifted his own sword to block the attack.

Kwangg!

The sound of the two swords hitting each other was unsteady.

It was the same sword he had been using while practicing with Kyrie so it had been worn down considerably – it wasn't a sword that would be able to endure having aura injected into it.

So Calian decided to instead wrap his own body in aura.

He twisted his sword, pushing Blue Warbler's attack back but she swung her sword once again – the attack was parried by Calian and then – in that moment, it was as though Calian disappeared from right before her eyes.

Blue Warbler's instincts were sharp, she hurriedly turned, recovering her balance but Calian's sword was already flying to her back.

It was so fast that the tip of the sword was invisible to her eyes – feeling the risk of death, Blue Warbler instinctively twisted her body. She managed to avoid a fatal strike but could not prevent the long gash that Calian opened up across her arm.

Calian lifted his sword once again as Blue Warbler took something out with a small click.

"You said you didn't have anymore,"

The distance was too close.

There wasn't enough to space to even knock the magic bomb away.

In the same instant that Calian came to a decision, his sword began to shine.

Mmmmm!

A clear sound and the slight tremor of steel. The blue light that climbed up the length of the sword looked almost cold in nature.

Calian held the sword imbued with aura in front of him. The magic bomb was already flying in his direction but in the next moment

Slice!

The overflowing red energy was cut in half and fell to the ground uselessly. The blue afterimage of the sword remained in the air for a moment, before gradually disappearing.

There was no explosion.

Instead, a sharp crack, followed by a rapture as Calain's sword shattered under the pressure of his aura.

Calian lowered his gaze, looking at Blue Warbler,

"So, what should I do with you?"

Calian, who's eyes had become those of Bern's for a moment, looked at Blue Warbler – but slowly faded back to their original red form

And he called her name in a cold voice,

"Ayla,"

Blue Warbler hadn't even realised that Calain had called her by her name. Instead, she was staring at his shattered sword. Her eyes were filled with an astonished light.

The world's sixth swordmaster was standing in front of her eyes.