Malty POV
Malty winced as the carriage jumped again. She caught the Sword Hero's annoyed grimace as well but he said nothing and simply continued his boring conversation with the brat.
They were currently going towards the Black Forest, about half a day's journey from Castle Town, it was normally a restricted area because it was a little dangerous for most adventurers but mainly because it was an area that gave an incredible amount of EXP. Only the most well-connected adventurers would be permitted to go there, Malty had managed to get the pass for the place first with her father's influence, something that the Sword Hero had been suitably grateful for, but the irritating man's insistence that they get there before 8 in the morning and stay there for at least three days without leaving was infuriating, he didn't listen to a single word she said, and worse the brat and the fanatic agreed with him and left her looking like she was the one who was mad because she didn't want to spend three days in a damn dungeon.
Still she had expected the man to be a fool, and she was not very surprised to see that he was one indeed, after all, it would have been easier to have a comfortable journey had he not ordered the driver to make haste, and they would easily be able to journey through the forest even if they left every day and went to the nearby village. But just to be a little faster to get through to the depths of the forest the fool insisted on staying for days.
But this was a sacrifice she was willing to make to ensure that she gained her crown, her throne and her nation. The thought flared her fury even further, even now she couldn't help but clench her fists as she remembered her mother's cold look and Melty's arrogant one when the bitch had declared that Malty was no longer the heir and that Melty was now the heir to all her titles, but now she could feel satisfaction course through her, she had a legendary hero eating out of the palm of her hand, soon enough he would be begging for the slightest scraps she threw at him, a bit of a smile, a show of flesh, and the man would be waiting eagerly to be moulded by her into the tool she desired.
Truly men, even heroes, were nothing more than fools.
The best part was that Melty could never even hope to get a man for herself. Let alone a Hero, she was simply too immature. With a hero serving her she had no doubt that the throne would be hers for the taking, at this, she felt herself smile, and this particular brute seemed to like fighting and tearing into monsters for their blood and guts, making him even easier to use, all she had to do was throw him at monsters, making him stronger and putting him deeper and deeper into her debt.
The carriage which had been rushing along started to slow, she was not the only one who noticed as the Sword hero ended his conversation and looked out the small window, "Is this the place?" he asked.
"Yes Adrian, welcome to the Black Forest, one of the best places to level and encounter a variety of beasts on the planet," she said with a smile.
He just nodded, before starting to get up and gather up his bag and then walked towards the door, Malty suppressed her irritation at his rude behaviour, and moved to follow him. Once she was out of the carriage, she winced at the sudden shock of heat, the carriage had some protection from heat but she had not expected it to be this annoying.
Adrian had gone forward to the front of the carriage and was speaking to the driver who was ecstatic to be able to speak to a Hero, Malty wanted to laugh, that commoner would never be able to realize just how pathetic his dear heroes were. What surprised her was that the carriage started moving after Adrian returned to them.
Malty turned towards him, "Where is that man going? He is supposed to take us back to the castle!"
Adrian looked at her with one eyebrow raised," We are going to be in there for about three days or so if all goes according to plan, better he wait in the village inn than out here for no good reason." he turned towards the brat after this," Andrea, any last-minute advice regarding the forest?"
Malty ignored the fools and tried to calm down, this pest was getting on her nerves! That driver worked for her, it was his job to wait here for her, not rest in an inn while she had to sleep in a forest on top of filth.
"Alright, let's get going." said Adrian, his sword shifting forms to a vicious looking blade, that was slightly glowing,"Our goal, for now, is primarily just levelling up so that we can tackle the whole forest safely, but please note that materials are still critical, a minimum of at least one sample from every living thing in that forest."
He started walking, the brat moved to his side, going a little forward, while the church's little pet followed behind him. Malty let her irritation fade, she had known from the start that she would need to deal with fools, what Queen didn't? She could not allow these imbeciles ridiculous actions to alter her plans. Not when they were sure to succeed, she would not allow mere irritants like these to allow her to fail. So she followed staying to the back like they had discussed during the carriage ride here, prepared herself to use her magic, and drew her sword.
For nearly ten minutes they encountered no monsters, and she was beginning to get impatient, especially given that the Hero kept stopping to pick up clumps of herbs, occasionally cut down and absorb trees and branches, and once even picked up some soil. Then they encountered their first monster at a distance, the brat was the one who saw it first and she signalled a stop.
"Pyramid Tortoise?" muttered Adrian, looking utterly incredulous," what the fuck? How can something like that even exist? How is that a tortoise? It's an artillery platform!"
Malty didn't understand what he was saying. What was the problem with the monster? She looked at it and noted that while it was a little odd, it was simply a tortoise which had a pyramid for a shell, this pyramid was currently half open and she could see that it had some spikes on top of it, fairly large ones at that, that it had launched at a tree with a loud cracking sound, once the tree fell over the tortoise slowly began to eat the leaves. It had yet to notice them since it was looking in the opposite direction.
It was nothing important or special, one hellfire spell from her would kill it in an instant.
"Sir Adrian, I shall use my Hellfire spell to take it down, please give me a moment," she said, voicing out her thoughts, this brute only valued combat ability, and this was a good chance to show it.
"Unwise," said the brat, "chance of something catching fire shall be very high. Also, the tortoise has high magic defence and affinity for earth magic, it shall resist fire very well. Recommend close combat and striking the head to kill. Or using Light magic to kill from range."
Malty opened her mouth to tell the brat what she thought of her advice, but the Hero interrupted, "I want to try out a few skills on an opponent that has some defence until now practically everything I've hunted has died in a hit. Please do not interfere unless I am close to getting badly injured. Andrea buff me up please."
"Understood. I am the source of all power. Obey my orders. Giant Strength. Fortress Wall."
"Thanks," he said, smiling at the girl. And then said," Dash."
From one moment to the next he had vanished from her sight, she turned quickly trying to follow and found a blur moving from his location towards the tortoise, she couldn't make out any features but she could see the glow of the gem in the Legendary Sword, it looked like a blue streak was going through the forest.
He didn't stop but she could see from the way the streak had moved that he had managed to strike the shell of the tortoise, a moment later, the top of the Tortoise had been cut into two pieces, the upper portion sliding of the top. The Hero seemed to come into existence right to the side of the tortoise but nearly five meters away from it, he seemed to focus for a second and then swung his sword twice at a speed she couldn't follow, a white light emerged from each swing in the shape of the arc the glowing tip of the sword had followed and slammed into the tortoise.
It was shredded utterly and clearly dead.
Adrian looked annoyed. Malty felt exasperated, he couldn't even enjoy victory properly, but she did note that she got a fair amount of exp, perhaps she would level even more than she did yesterday now that the Hero was no longer a level one weakling.
Malty lead the others towards him while the hero changed his sword to another form and began to cut the beast into pieces, it took the fool nearly a minute to cut the beast into shreds and then absorb it, another thing he did that was odd, if he was going to absorb it anyway, why not absorb the whole thing at once rather wasting time by butchering it? No doubt it was some idea from the heroes world where doing something like this was needed.
Adrian got up, changed his sword form to the vicious weapon from before, and said," I think we'll need to target at least another three of these things, preferably five to be certain." then he frowned, "Andrea do you know of any monsters that have more defence than this one?"
The brat said nothing for nearly a minute, then said, " Yes. It is a rare monster called Crystal Demon that lives deep in the mountain there" she said pointing to the mountain that was at the distant edge of the forest. "You're attack is too high, nothing else will survive a hit from the attack you used. Normally the Pyramid turtles are killed with their shells being completely untouched, you cut through it with both your attacks."
She looked at him dead in the eye," Your attack stat is on par with most level 30's who specialize in attack especially when I boost your strength."
"It is to be expected from a Legendary Hero," said Bellamy, with a puffed-up chest, as if the fool had anything to do with it.
Adrian looked a little concerned for some reason but shrugged, "I see, in that case, please leave it to me to make the first attack, for now, I have a few more things to test out. Let's continue."
He started moving soon after that, and their hunt continued. The monsters gave them no trouble, and Adrain killed almost everything that they encountered in one shot. Only rarely did the rest of them have to participate and that was when they were small swarms of enemies, frankly Malty hated the pests in this forest.
"Interesting," he said, as the Hero observed the massive bear creature eating something that it had butchered, the smell of blood had spread throughout the region but the monster still turned to look at them despite neither of them making a sound, Malty could see the blood dripping from its mouth. She felt a surge of disgust at the monster, she wanted to blast it with her fire, kill this filthy thing dared to stare at her as if she were just another meal to be eaten!
"Metal hide bear." the hero continued," may I presume that it has a high defence?"
The girl spoke quickly," No."
Adrian's disappointed expression made her want to laugh, it seemed that the brat was funny sometimes, at least she was comic relief. But the man did nothing else, and a dozen swords began to emerge from his blade, each of them looking just a little different, they flew forward towards the bear, two of them missing, but most of them slamming head-on into it. They dug in deep, but despite having its skull nearly cut in half and 5 swords sticking out of this back, and another three in its limbs it still roared and tried to get up.
"Wind Slash," the hero said, and a nearly invisible blade of wind went towards the beast, which couldn't move, it cut plain through the bear, nearly slicing it in half. He sighed after it cut through it, and the bear stopped moving "I suppose that it is conclusive, my attack is sufficient for this place. But does something like Metal hide bear truly not have high defence Andrea?"
Andrea spoke," High for level 15 adventurers, but not high for you."
He nodded at that," I need to understand just what is it a normal adventurer can do. The locations that the guild maps out are according to what the average person can deal with right? I'll need to understand what a level 10 is compared to a 15." at the end of his sentence he began to walk towards the bear, his sword changing to the now-familiar form that he used to butcher the monsters, it was a vicious but short blade that seemed to cut through flesh like it was paper," Malty, Andrea, please note that there are some interesting herbs, there and there," he said pointing to the locations, "please pick them up. Thanks."
Malty kept her annoyance down and smiled at him, continuing to visualize the crown in her mind, this was a necessary sacrifice, soon she would make him understand his place.
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They spent the whole day roaming the forest, killing, butchering and absorbing everything in their path, by the end of the day when they finally broke for dinner after only having snacks and short breaks for the rest of the day, they were all filthy, covered in blood and smelled of the same. Malty had blood cleaning armour but the other three didn't so they were all quite filthy. To her surprise, however, once they got cleaned off at a nearby river, the Hero just pulled out some clothing for them to wear from his sword.
Malty was still furious, but her exhaustion was dulling everything, so when the Hero said," Malty please get the firewood with Bellamy,"
She looked at him and shouted, " He can get it on his own, I am not taking another step." for a moment after that she was surprised when all she got was an amused look, "I see that you are not used to activity for this long. I suppose it is irrelevant, Bellamy please get the firewood with Andera."
The other two nodded obediently and left, and she was alone with him for the first time in two days. She could feel her blood boiling, had this fool been testing her, how far she would go? Did he dare?
"Sorry princess, I have been quite excited about this whole trip, didn't realize how tired you had gotten." the man then continued to pull things out of his sword and started getting ready to make dinner.
Malty wanted to tear this man apart, did he think his paltry apology was enough?! She was no fool, he had to be testing her!
"It doesn't sound like you mean it Sir Hero," she said, her tone cold, she would have him running to her.
"I do mean it, you can sit out tomorrow's hunt if you like." he said, "this spot seems safe enough or you could come with us and choose to do nothing."
"I believe that today deserves more than that. Good sir," said Malty, keeping her tone a little more relaxed than before.
"That is unfortunate Princess," he said a little colder now," I was under the impression that you wished to participate in the waves, I can only imagine just how much effort we will need for them, this is just training for them."
"We have you for the waves Sir Hero," she said, feeling her anger rise, this man was supposed to beg her to forgive him, how dare he not even apologize for the day.
"I am the Sword Hero, I do not doubt my ability to kill my enemies, not after today. I must still train of course but that is a given." he said, then sighed, "I apologize princess, but I fear for your safety, these waves are said to be apocalyptic how can four men no matter how strong protect everyone?"
This pathetic fool was truly worthless, what was the point of a sword that could not even have the courage to fight. But this was still useful.
Malty smiled at him, and graciously said, "It is fine Sir Hero, you must be quite tired as well, please don't worry about any of this, I am certain that you shall be more than capable of doing your duty. And I will be here to help you throughout your trials."
"Thank you, princess," he said, a tired smile of his own.
The fool. A few simple words and he was begging for her forgiveness. He would be hers in no time.
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Her thoughts were far worse on the third day. The Sword Hero kept up his intense schedule, they had all levelled up but it was not worth the layers of filth and the persistent smell of blood that were now bound to her. Even worse was how her levels were now slightly lower than his, she looked towards her Status and found in her party inventory
Malty Melromarc Level 28
Adrian Black Level 30
Andrea Level 33
Bellamy 32
Worse was how he kept disregarding her advice, when she had attempted to get him to stop his run through the forest, he had simply stated that if she was too tired then perhaps she should take a break, Bellamy had been left to guard her while she rested, and then he had left with the other girl.
In less than half an hour after that, he had simply commanded them to start up again, his only favour towards her? A small stamina potion. It was infuriating. Malty continued to trek behind them, they were finally moving towards the exit to the forest, but at this point, Malty had made up her mind. The Sword Hero and his two servants would pay for this indignity, she could feel her anger wish to spark up in the form of fire, and as she stared at his back the temptation to just blast him was almost impossible to stop.
Then the most disgusting bug flew out of the forest making a direct beeline for the blonde girl, Malty just sneered at the useless bug, expecting it to die but the girl just froze, unlike every other time she didn't casually deflect it with her shield and leave it open to an attack by the Hero or Bellamy instead the massive insect almost struck her with its stinger, in fact, it would have managed to had a sword not launched itself through the insect, which was killed instantly and pinned to a nearby tree.
Then more began to fly towards them, but they were still as slow as before, so Malty began to chant while the Hero and fanatic kept them busy with their sword and light magic, none of the disgusting insects got through to her, but she could see that the Hero was being forced to use more effort than normal as the girl was still just shaking in place, pathetic, this girl was supposed to be an adventurer, it seemed that she was just a fool with a powerful father after all. It must have just been the Guildmasters influence and not her own talents.
"Sir Hero, I am ready," she said, once she had finished her chant, the Sword hero didn't respond but he cut down another monster, then ran towards the brat, picked her up and retreated in the space of a second, Bellamy who had been further away, bombarding them with his light blasts simply continued.
"Hellfire," she proclaimed, and a massive firestorm emerged in front of her, it's intensity surprising even her, it would seem that her levelling up had made her even more powerful!
The insects were roasted in mere seconds, and once her fire died down to embers she could only see a few dozen of them. The Hero finished them off quickly with his floating swords and a single swipe of his that sent an arc of energy cutting down three at once.
Malty turned to see that the Hero had a concerned look on his face, as the girl got up carefully from where he had laid her down in order to finish off the monsters. Malty felt like killing the girl, her job was to act on the frontline as a defence, what good was she if she froze when she saw a monster. She would make sure that the Sword Hero kicked this useless girl out, then not only could she get someone more useful, perhaps a knight loyal to her, but she would also no longer have to deal with this annoying brat. Plus there would be no more annoying conversations between the coward and the Sword Hero.
"Bellamy." the sword hero said, "keep watch. Ensure that we are safe."
The man nodded immediately, "Yes my lord. I am using my light magic to stay aware of all that is occurring in nearly 300 meters. We shall have no trouble detecting the incoming enemies."
The Hero frowned at this," Any limitations of the spell?"
"Yes sir, the magic consumption is high and thus I cannot use this for more than fifteen minutes. Also, sir, some magics can counter this power, mostly darkness based or light-based ones."
"I see, then please don't worry and use your magic water freely, I have several stored in the sword for emergencies."
"Yes, sir!"
"Andrea," he said, his voice far too gentle with the fool who had disrupted their fight," how are you feeling right now?"
Malty sneered at his behaviour, was this fool so ridiculous as to show this girl some pity for making such a mistake, he needed to learn how to discipline his followers, clearly, he was not fit to be a leader.
The girl just stared blankly at him, she had turned to look at him when he spoke but said nothing. The Sword hero knelt and offered her healing water, slowly pushing it into her hand. That startled her into action, and then she realized what had happened, and stared at the hero who just said," Drink it please."
Andrea obeyed, and then as her wounds healed, her expression began to close off. Malty felt like slapping the idiot. The Hero noticed as well, because he continued, "Andrea, tell me did something happen to you in the first wave?"
The girl's eyes widened, and she said," How did you.."
"The name of the monster was Extra-dimensional drone insect: class alpha," he said.
Malty had to admit to some surprise here, this brat had fought against the first wave? She had known that this girl was the child of the head of the guild but frankly she had not thought much of the girl, but if this was all that this weakling was capable of then no doubt she had run away from the monsters and gotten lucky enough to be faster than them.
When the girl said nothing for about 30 seconds, Adrian stood back up, "Anything to note Bellamy?"
"No sir, we are clear."
"Very well. Everyone we are taking a break, let's return to the same spot where we took our third break in yesterday, I believe it is close enough and is likely to be easy to secure." he said and then turned to where the girl was still sitting down, "Andrea, please stand up, we can deal with this after we've had a snack and some rest."
The girl stared at his offered hand for a second before standing up without taking it," It is fine. I can continue." she said, trying to sound stoic, but Malty could easily hear the waver that the pathetic girl had in her voice. Still, it was good that she wasn't willing to waster Malty's time.
"No, not right now." he said simply, but firmly " we shall eat, rest and then speak. We can continue after that."
Malty felt furious for a moment as she realized that he had let her rest so easily while he hadn't even considered letting her rest for a moment! But then Malty felt a small smile emerge as she realized that Adrian was going to show this girl her place, it would seem that he had realized how useless she was and was trying to let her down easy while removing her from his party by letting her relax first. He was a kind fool but she could see how to use that so it was not a problem. Malty almost laughed as she realized that the girl who she had been planning to kick out soon had already blundered so badly.
Sometimes things were too easy.
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Bellamy POV:
They all sat down in their old resting site, it was a good location, a large clearing so that nothing could easily sneak up on them, some logs and stones for decent seating, and since they had collected a number of branches yesterday to feed to the Legendary Sword, Sir Adrian simply used them as firewood and then changed his Sword into a candle-like form and started the fire.
"Sword Hero this is not needed." said Miss Andrea, sounding tired, rather than annoyed," we should continue hunting."
"Let us eat first. A small delay is insignificant." he replied, his voice as calm as ever," and we have levelled up far beyond my expectations. Even if we should leave right now it would not be a big loss, but I think that there is something we should do here."
Bellamy wasn't sure what the Hero was referring to at the end of his sentence but he did agree that they had levelled up far beyond any reasonable expectations. But then while the Saint did not see just how incredible he was, Bellamy could see just why they had made such progress through the Dark Forest.
Truth be told, Bellamy had been here before with his comrades from the Church. They had camped out here for two weeks to level up, and despite their best efforts they had spent most of the time running from too tough monsters, carefully analyzing a foe to ensure they could take it down, and then using combination attacks to defeat them. It had been exhausting work but rewarding as well. Bellamy had grown two levels going from level 18 to 20 and he had been proud of his work and that of his fellows.
He had not realized just how inadequate their methods had been until today.
The Sword Hero was unstoppable, every monster he faced died quickly in a single series of hits, not a one was allowed to escape, and they maintained a constant yet calm pace through the forest, ensuring that none of them tired out. Regular breaks, magic and stamina boosting waters made by the Holy Sword and the fact that it was the Sword Hero who did most of the work had all but ensured their smooth flow. Then Bellamy had realized that the Sword Hero was growing as the day passed on, monsters that were fast enough to dodge a strike or two from the Hero fell instantly unable to match his pace, monsters large enough to take two strikes to fully kill or cripple were torn apart in a single strike, skills from the Hero were used more frequently and most of all his sense of battle grew.
It was inspiring to see visible improvement as the Hero fought, Bellamy had not participated in a wave but he had seen some of the refugees, he had felt grief when he had realized that for all his skill with Light magic and healing he could do nothing to help them, for the very reason those refugees had come to the capital was because they had nothing left of their homes. But now Bellamy was certain, the three Heroes would defeat the waves. There would be no more orphaned children created due to those horrific dimensional rifts.
"It's done." the Hero said, his words breaking Bellamy out of his thoughts,the Hero then got up and handed a small plate with some roasted meat and herbs to each of them, he had even given them a small pair of forks and knives with which to tear at the meat," Let's eat."
The smell of the simple fare in front of him was a surprise. The Hero had done nothing but roast some meat with a few spices he had picked up from here and there, but the aroma was beyond anything he had ever eaten. Bellamy knew that he was used to simple foods, as a member of the Church he was bound to eat simple food whenever possible and growing up as he had, high-quality food was never present, indeed food itself was far from guaranteed, and here he was, blessed enough to be served food by a Saint.
Bellamy quickly sent a prayer to his God, grateful that he had seen fit to serve him food made by God's avatar. Truly he had been blessed.
The aroma quickly grew to be too tempting and once he was done with his prayer he took a bite, the flavour exploded in his mouth and he was unable to stop the hum of appreciation. Truly the food blessed by a Saint was the best! The Princess Malty did not seem to appreciate the meal, as expected of a sinner like her, her false smile obvious to Bellamy. But young Miss Andrea took a hesitant bite and then quickly began to finish the rest.
The Hero had started eating but Bellamy found him carefully looking at Andrea, whose full attention was on the food, the expression on his face was grave.
For a moment Bellamy wondered why, and then he felt ashamed that he had not realized it immediately. The Hero was attempting to judge how he could help the young lady who had no doubt been traumatized by the first wave.
Bellamy had read the reports, the first wave had not truly been stopped for several hours, thousands had died in the initial hour or two after the Wave had started despite the best efforts of all the people there, but what had been worse in Bellamy's eyes was just how the devastation had continued for days afterwards, even after the anchor to the portal, the greatest monster of the wave had been defeated, the massive number of monsters unleashed prior to the closing of the rift had spread out throughout the region, entire fields of crops, small villages and various travellers had paid the price, even now most of those monsters were still alive, with only those closest to large population centres having been dealt with.
Despite this he had not expected to meet a monster from a wave, truthfully the insects earlier had been weak. But in swarms he could imagine the danger they posed even to experienced adventurers, let alone to the common folk who would likely be their preferred prey. He did not know what Miss Andrea had been doing there but if she had been there then there was no doubt that she must have lost someone, and it seems that seeing those insects again had sent her off into flashbacks, causing her to freeze.
In that state, had the Hero not saved her, she would have died without a doubt. But Bellamy still felt that it was unacceptable that she needed to be saved, it was one thing to be traumatized it was another to make things difficult for the Hero. After all, they were his companions, if they could not prove to be his support what right did they have to stand by his side and benefit from his blessings?
It was the same reason that he despised the Princess. The arrogant sinner who had killed innocent men by accusing them of raping her or simply mistreating her, was no doubt attempting to use the Hero just as she had chosen to use them. After their first day of adventuring when he had returned to the church dormitories to rest, Father Andrew had called him to his office and explained the true nature of the princess to him, and warned him that she would attempt to influence the Hero and control him and possibly even try to have the Hero remove Bellamy and any other party members who were not under her control.
It shamed him now that he had been worried about the Saint, throughout these three days he had witnessed countless attempts of the princess to influence him, and the Saint had wisely managed to navigate every one of her traps!
"Now Andrea can we speak of what happened there?' the Hero said," And make no mistake, this is a request. If you do not wish to speak, tell me that and I shall not bring it up again."
Miss Andrea said nothing for a long moment.
Then," Are you going to remove me from the party?"
"If you are willing to work to improve your reaction to those monsters, then no." he said, "but Andrea, we will face a great many enemies, it is one thing to face that small swarm, it will be another thing entirely if you freeze during the waves when countless enemies seek to kill us all."
"It will not happen again," she said, gritting her teeth."I will not be weak again. The next time I'll kill them all."
"There will be a next time Andrea, and in all likelihood a time after that, I can see that you wish to avenge something that the waves took from you." said the Sword Hero,"But if your reaction is to freeze up or to go into a frenzy then I'm afraid that you will only be a liability."
"If you want me to leave, then tell me to leave." she said, glaring at him, her tone shifting from sullen anger to sudden fury, "don't play around with me!"
It was the very first time that he had seen such emotion from the young woman. He could see her face twist and her subconsciously reach for her sword.
"Don't speak to Sir Adrian like that," said the Princess, her voice full of venom," he has shown nothing but kindness to you and you are spitting on it!"
"Enough" came in a flat tone from the Sword Hero, and both girls turned towards him, about to say something.
"Malty please do not interfere in this matter. This is between Andrea and I and no one else," he said and then glared at both the Princess and then Bellamy, Bellamy quickly nodded.
"But Adrian she is insulting you, don't waste your time on-"
"Enough princess." he said, the princess looked stunned, he turned towards the other girl "Andrea, I have no intention of removing you from the party for a single event. My concern is the possibility of this happening again and nothing more. If you wish to leave, then you are always free to do so, but I will not ask you to leave because something reminded you of what is likely one of the worst days of your life."
"The worst," muttered Ms Andrea, but the Sword Hero nodded.
"The worst then," he said, Andrea looked a little surprised that he heard that, "but it is something that has to be addressed, and so I ask if you wish to face those things again today or at a later date?"
Andrea looked stunned," Wh..what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that this is something that we need to overcome if you are to fight in the waves to come. So either we can fight them today and hope that we can improve or if you do not think it wise we shall leave and train elsewhere and one day before the Waves start again, we go to the location of the first wave and fight the remnants that are clearly present," he stated.
"Frankly this method is crude, and any psychologist would probably be furious with me but I believe that we need to do something or the first wave may very well lead to your death or someone else's"
When she didn't answer for a long time, he spoke again, " So what shall-"
"Let's do it." she said, her tone calm again, her face etched with determination "I will beat them this time."
The Hero smiled, "Then let's start."
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