An unpleasant Meeting (1)

It's been 4 years since my brother abandoned me and left me to die in this shithole with this crazy bitch.

Honestly, I think that my family abandoned me and left me to die. There was no way that they had just left me alone with this crazy bitch for 4 damn years without trying to reach out to me even once.

Have they already forgotten about me?

"Again, kid. Do it again!"

The voice of Irene called out to me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Shut up!"

For these four years, everything I have done was sparring with that battle maniac or hunting monster in the nearby monster forest.

And today we sparred once again.

Dashing toward, I extended my pumped mana into my sword, before spinning around and delivering a side slash toward Irene.

Cling—!

Parrying my strike, Irene had plenty of chances to punish my mistake, which forced me to either go on the defensive or continue my series of attacks, trying to keep her on the defensive.

"[Rising winter]!"

Utilizing my 'Ice' attribute, I used a skill and delivered a slash from below that froze anything in its path, which forced Irene to retreat.

In a way, fighting was just like playing a 2D fighting game or a turn-based one. Your brain just has to react fast enough to fully realize that fact.

Granted, it was something that was only possible to me due to [Fast thinker] and [Reading] but it wasn't my fault for coming into this world with such a cheat, is it?

"Pretty good, kiddo! That skill of yours is surely really impressive!"

Irene laughed as if it was just a game to her. Acting like fighting with me wasn't dangerous in any shape or form.

"Tsk." Clicking my tongue, I glared at her with narrowed eyes. "Still, I doubt that I could beat that beast of a woman anytime soon..."

"What did you say?

"Nothing," I grumbled, putting on an obviously sarcastic smile. "I'm just a little bit exhausted."

"Is that so? Then we can end this early today."

"Eh?"

Usually, Irene wasn't the type of person to shorten a sparring session. No, rather she was the type of person who wanted to extend such a hellish thing, which was the reason why her sudden change of behavior surprised me.

Once again, I took a look at her stats, suppressing a sigh, as I glanced at the demonstration of our power difference.

================

[Irene Lione]

Age: 27

Level: 146

Attribute: Violence

Mana: 3.650/4880

Exp: 12.567.984/14.000.000

——Stats——

Strength: 296

Agility: 281

Stamina: 264

Durability: 146

Mana: 122

Intelligence: 96

——Arts——

[Imperial Sword art (Mastered) {Rare}]

A Sword Art, that is taught by the knights of the imperial army. It is widely known as one of the most effective sword arts due to its simplicity.

Progression: 57%

[Hunter's Sword art (Peak) {Unique}]

Derived from animals and beasts themselves. It is a sword art created by Irene herself that focuses solely on killing and hunting the enemy.

Progression: 7%

——Skills——

[Hunter's Instincts (passive) {Legendary}]

The User possesses animalistic instincts that are far out of normal human limits. Allows the user to make accurate judgments without thinking about them by relying on this skill.

[Hunter's claw (active) {Unique}]

Deliver an overhead slash, driven by your animalistic instincts, that could shake the earth itself.

[Crushing Bite (active) {Unique}]

Create a mana blade in each hand, crushing the body of their enemies between the blades like the fangs of a lion.

{Berserk (active) {Legendary}]

For 5 minutes, sacrifice your sanity for an unimaginable boost in all stats. The user will rampage around like a wild beast and attack anything in its path.

[Show more...]

——Characteristics——

[Dutiful]

[Beast]

[Battle Maniac]

[Loyal]

[Violent]

[Genius]

[Heavy Hitter]

[Hardworking]

[Battle Continuation]

================

Seriously. level 146 at the age of 27?

She really was a beast that breaks the logic of what a human could do.

While I couldn't exactly remember everything anymore, I could still faintly recall one or two paragraphs I'd read about Irene Lione.

According to my memory, she was the previous Knight commander but left due to the corruption of the empire's knights.

Still, as the previous Knight commander, she felt a responsibility to at least try to train future knights so that the empire wouldn't collapse if a crisis arrived.

"What a woman..."

I released a heavy sigh as I massaged my temples, already feeling an incoming headache due to the overloading of [Reading].

Even though I didn't necessarily like her hellish ways of training me, she was a person that I respected.

Not only due to her power but also due to her tenacity and loyalty.

A person who is so loyal to the empire that she still acts as an instructor for the imperial army, after retreating.

She didn't necessarily do it for the empire itself, but more for the people of the empire, which was a respectable thing in my eyes.

"Finally done..."

Throwing my wooden sword to the side, I whispered as I walked up to the door.

While I was always complaining about her training, I had already gotten used to it and, as such; I didn't feel physically exhausted.

In my case, it was more like mental exhaustion due to the constant information my brain had to intake during a fight.

Overusing [Reading] too much just gives me headaches, so I try to minimize my use of that skill as much as I can.

However. not using [Reading] while fighting against that damn beast was damn near impossible.

Monsters I could manage, but that woman? No way in hell could I keep up with her without [Reading], even if she was severely holding back.

Shaking my head, I refocused my thoughts. Thinking about how unpleasant and exhausting this day is nothing more than unnecessary stress for my brain.

Even though I originally wanted to roam around in the empire, when I got more time, I think that rather choosing to do that, taking a rest would be the better option, as it felt like my head was about to burst, which to be fair, wasn't a rare phenomenon in the last 4 years.

Sighing, I walked over to the door, but was abruptly stopped by the sudden voice of Irene, who called out to me.

"Weiss." She said, her voice sounding serious. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Wednesday?"

"No," she shook her head. "Since you've arrived at this place, How much time had passed?"

"...4 Years I think. Why?"

What the hell did she want from me? Couldn't she just say that directly instead of speaking in such cryptic messages?

"Just like your brother, you trained here for 4 years..." Irene stopped. Looking at me with a gaze that carried nostalgia, she formed a weak smile.

I raised an eyebrow in response, questioning her strange behavior.

Was she about to die due to some illness or why was she suddenly getting so sentimental?

"I think after all those years it's better for you to go outside and learn by yourself. Contrary to your brother, who had to return for his Azelio duties, you managed to master the Sword arts in only 4 years..."

No, I actually did it in a few months, but your ass still didn't want to let me go back home.

Granted, her training made me stronger by a remarkable amount, but she could've just asked nicely and I would've certainly said...

no...

or maybe yes...?

Well, who cares?

"I guess."

I responded in a nonchalant voice, crossing my arms, as I curiously watched what she would say next.

"Your talent is even greater than that of your brother's..."

"I know."

"And as such...I think that having you here for any longer would just halt your growth."

Approaching me, Irene put both of her hands, her eyes locked with mine and for a few seconds we just silently stared at each other, trying to gauge the reactions of one another.

"...I think that you heading to the adventurer's guild would be the best thing you could do in your current state." With a firm smile, she shook me up and down. "What you lack is experience and there you can gain it."

Sounds pretty cool, I guess.

I'll look into it later, when I'm done with resting. After those four hellish years, it's just fair for me to relax a little, isn't it?

"Okay."

"Which is also the reason why I've prepared you an profile at the adventurer's guild!"

Shaking off her sudden wave of sadness, Irene's usual energy came back as she handed over a card to me.

"Here's your identification card. It makes your adventurer life a whole lot easier and if you somehow lose it, you can just get a new one at the adventurer's guild any time!"

What the fuck, Irene?

Why do you guys always keep deciding things for me without ever asking my opinion about it?

"Do my parents know about this?"

Yes, that's right. If my parents possessed even the tiniest bit of empathy and sympathy with me, their only daughter, then they would probably stop me from doing such a ridiculous thing, right?

"Don't worry about them. I had already managed to convince them!"

"What."

"Yes, yes. They were very sad at first, but when i told them you weren't coming home for another while, but when I told them that it was for your own well-being then they reluctantly agreed."

"Great." I remarked in an obvious sarcastic tone, but Irene either didn't seem to catch it or just plainly ignored it.

Both could be the reason, as Irene was two things especially.

First, especially chill, so her ignoring my tone could be due to that reason. And second, incredibly stupid when it comes to anything non-fighting related, which made me inclined to choose the second option.

"Aren't you happy that you got such a great teacher? I even convinced your parents to let you be an adventurer!"

"Totally."

Well, then again.

Adventurer is also just a job and as long as I don't accept any quests, I had enough time to just relax and lean back for a while.

However, what I didn't notice was that Irene wasn't finished talking.

"And the best part is!"

I froze up as I heard her continuing her talk, a bad foreboding building up inside me.

"I've already gotten you a quest, as I know how hard it could be for newcomers to find one!"

Damn, woman.

You really did a great job of doing the exact opposite with what I wanted and pissing me off.

Really, in that regard, you are the most talented person I know.

"And when would that quest start?"

Complaining about that situation wouldn't help anyone, so I just decided to at least prepare as much as I can, so that the quest will be as easy as possible for me.

"Tomorrow."

"What?"

"As I said, the quests started tomorrow."

Suppressing a yell of agony, I buried my face in my hands.

For god's fucking sake, woman!

You can't be fucking serious!