Knight and Wand

Chapter 28 The Calm Time Before Departure
Inside the dim windmill tower, several young men were idly talking about the unforgettable things they had seen and heard during the day.

Azerien rested his head on his arms, leaned against the wall and looked out the window at the night sky, "Ms. Olivia, you are such a genius in swordsmanship."

He said this without exaggeration.

"Yes." Luohak thought of his sister who was still missing, and his voice became dull: "If I had her martial arts skills, maybe I could protect my family."

"Even if you don't have her incredible talent, as long as you are determined, you will have a good future. After all, we are still young, and hard work can make up for lack of talent." Leon comforted.

"Yes, you are right." Lohak nodded and looked at him: "Let's talk to Olivia tomorrow. I want to ask her for advice on swordsmanship. Let her teach me."

"She probably won't refuse, but we can't stay here for two days. We won't be able to learn anything in such a short time, right?" Leon said.

"My father used to tell me that there will always be some benefits and inspirations in exchanging skills with masters." There was some sadness in Lohak's eyes. He didn't know where his sister was waiting for him in Kantadar, and he didn't want to miss any opportunity to improve his abilities as soon as possible.

"Come to think of it, you have the best swordsmanship among us. Tell me, if you were to fight with Olivia, how many moves do you think you could withstand from her sword?" Leon asked curiously.

"How many moves?" Lohak's brows twitched, and he scratched his cheek with an awkward smile.

"Leon, you think too highly of me."

Snapped--!
Lohak's hands were forced down and he was hit again.

His wrist was once again held down by the wooden stick that symbolized the blade, but the force was just enough.

If he hadn't held back his strength, this blow, even if it was just a wooden stick, would have fractured his wrist.

"Beautiful." Under the shade of the windmill tower, Leon once again praised this clean blow.

The blonde girl put away the stick, looked at the sweaty Lohak with her emerald eyes, and suggested considerately: "How about taking a rest first?"

"Ah." The tall boy lowered his hands, let out a long sigh of relief, and nodded in satisfaction.

Too strong, not even on the same level as the opponent.

Leon stepped forward and handed the cleaned cloth to his companion, asking him to wipe his sweat. He couldn't help but asked teasingly: "How do you feel? Did you learn anything from the fight?"

Lohak immediately gave a bitter smile: "We fought for so many rounds, but I didn't even get hit. I have learned a lot about how to take a beating. You have watched long enough, how about you try it instead?"

"I do want to, but we have to let them rest." Leon looked at the blonde girl whose face didn't even turn red and whose breath wasn't even the slightest bit messy: "Thank you for taking the time to come and play with us."

"It's okay." Olivia smiled and shook her head: "This is far from tiring for me, and it's much easier and more interesting than doing farm work."

This is the truth. In the past, except for the opportunity when her father was free, no one in the village had the ability and time to compete with her in sword fighting.

Taking the stick from Lohak, Leon took a stance, stood in front of the girl, and tried to relax his body.

"Are you ready?" Olivia smiled and raised her hands in the key pose.

"Anytime." Leon focused all his attention, staring at the girl's body.

He was more focused on the other person's shoulders and feet, and had already given up trying to capture the movements of his hands.

He had learned enough lessons before and knew that he would not be able to react in time to the lightning-fast sword.

Now, even if he could grab a double kill, he would still consider it a victory!
This time Leon decided to strike first.

Leon stepped forward with his left leg as a sign of confusion, and took a half step to the side, his body suddenly accelerating along the way.

He swung the stick with full force, not daring to relax or hold back for even a moment.

Facing this mountain village girl whose swordsmanship is as strong as a monster, if I still have any fear of hurting her in my heart, then that would be arrogant and without self-awareness.

The wooden stick came slashing diagonally at the girl.

Leon kept his eyes on Olivia's shoulders.

Moved!

There was no time in his head to weigh the pros and cons and judge. Leon turned his body as quickly as possible and used both hands to turn the leaning stick from left to right, changing track and chopping it down!
However, the expected attack trajectory completely failed, and Leon's swinging stick failed to catch up with the girl's agile body.

Olivia, like a round dance, had already stepped and slid to his side.

The slashing stick lightly touched Leon's neck. The girl retracted the stick in her hand and retreated to Leon's left side with her.

If it were an actual combat, even if this didn't decapitate the opponent, it would at least slit his throat and neck.

Leon stopped and raised his hand regretfully to admit defeat.

His sword skills were far inferior to those of Lohak, let alone the talented girl in front of him.

"How did you get in? Did you see through my intention to die together from the beginning?" Leon put down the stick in his hand and asked humbly.

To be honest, sparring is not actual combat after all, so there will be no loss of life or serious injury. The coach at the sword gym in my previous life also said that deliberately ignoring the fatal injury in the practice of sword fighting and forcibly trying to achieve a double kill with the opponent is actually a cheating behavior. That is not a victory, but instead causes the process of practicing techniques to lose its basic meaning.

But even though he had so shamelessly assumed that he was fearless and attempting a double kill, Leon still didn't touch Olivia at all.

What hit him even harder was that the girl seemed to be handling the situation with ease.

"Well, I see that you didn't step firmly in your first step. Although the center of gravity of your body is on the left, you are still moving to the right. So no matter where you step in the second step, front, back, left or right, the length of your legs will be limited to those positions." Olivia pointed at the ground in front of Leon with a wooden stick and carefully explained her thoughts and responses.

Leon listened quietly, trying his best to understand the girl's thoughts.

She had made her intentions crystal clear from the beginning, so dealing with her was simple and direct.

Since the opponent tried to attack from the right side, she chose to circle with him. Fortunately, the opponent gave up his position on the left side.

Olivia said rather embarrassedly: "How about I go slower? I'm really sorry, I usually practice swordplay by myself, and I really don't know how to guide others."

Leon waved his hand gratefully: “You have taught me carefully enough, Olivia. If you still can’t understand, it’s our own problem.”

The two men walked back to their positions, raised the wooden sticks in their hands, and continued the next round of competition.

In the open space under the windmill, the sound of clanging was heard again.

Beheading, cutting off arms, cutting off waist, piercing chest.
If it were a real fight, Leon and others would have died countless times.

But until the end, they were unable to hit Olivia.
When the day's swordplay exchange was over, Leon once again lent Olivia his gorgeous dwarven steel sword to play with as a thank you for the girl's instruction.

The three men who had been beaten with countless sticks sat against the wall of the mill to rest, admiring the sword dance of the blonde girl and talking about the time to set off.

"Are you leaving the day after tomorrow?"

Olivia lowered the gorgeous sword in her hand and looked at the friends beside her whom she had just become familiar with, feeling a little regretful.

"Yes, we have bought everything for the journey from the village. If we don't leave now, your father will be dissatisfied with us." Leon said helplessly.

"Oh, my father is such a fool." Olivia crossed her hands and supported her cheeks. She really could not do anything about her father's decision.

But during these few short days together, the girl sincerely felt that these three friends from outside had no ill will towards Selva Village, and she really didn't understand why her father had such an attitude towards Leon and his friends.

The girl clapped her hands and suddenly decided, "You should get up early tomorrow. I will come over in the morning to teach you some moves. On the last day, I will teach you a few sword techniques that I came up with as a parting gift."

Leon was of course very happy with the girl's kind advice: "Then I hope you will show mercy tomorrow."

After chatting for a while, seeing that it was getting late, the blonde girl returned the sword and said goodbye to everyone.

Olivia returned to the village humming a tune happily.

As a result, she had just returned to her home when she saw a face that annoyed her.

The girl's expression suddenly turned cold.

"You've been getting really close to those outsiders these days."

Boris said sarcastically with a wry smile.

In his heart, he maliciously speculated whether the other party had taken a fancy to those pretty boys outside the village, but the pain in his hand had not yet subsided, so Boris wisely held back his words.

"What does this have to do with you?" Olivia walked past the scumbag without even looking at him.

Boris turned around, annoyed by the girl's attitude.

"You lent them the lord's old mill to live in? The village let your father keep the key, not to use it as charity for these suspicious outsiders! When my father comes back, I will tell him about this!"

Olivia stopped and looked back at him helplessly.

"That mill has been abandoned for many years. Besides, it's not like other travelers haven't stayed there before. You don't need to make a fuss about it. Besides, they will leave the day after tomorrow."

After saying that, she didn’t want to continue, but after walking a few steps, the girl stopped and sighed, and warned without turning her head:

"This is my reminder, Boris. Even if I didn't care about your stupid behavior the day before yesterday, with your mediocre skills, any one of them could easily kill you. Don't cause trouble for yourself anymore."

Considering that the other party's father, Uncle Toke, was a nice person, Olivia suppressed her disgust and said nothing more.

Boris gritted his teeth and watched the girl's back gradually disappear around the corner, his face trembling.

He reached out and touched the bulging paper bag in his arms, his eyes flashing with coldness: ". It was originally prepared for you, little bitch, but as long as I have that sword, I can buy more from them."

Looking at the hillside to the north again, he turned and walked towards home.

His father, being a village official, must have the key to the old mill in his room.

(End of this chapter)