Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

Their weapons clashed once again.

The rain continued to pour down, and the waves grew larger and larger.

The waves crashed against the ship, causing it to rock violently. Dietrich and the surviving sailors were momentarily unsteady and quickly grabbed the railings for support.

They saw the two men completely unaffected on the swaying deck, fighting at an unimaginable speed. The flashing blades and dazzling swordplay were breathtaking, and they even saw sparks fly every time their weapons clashed.

"That's amazing..."

"Where exactly did the lieutenant colonel hire these people from?"

"Both of them are monsters!"

Dietrich watched the duel between the two in horror; this was no longer a duel between humans!

This was also the first time he had witnessed Isaac's fighting prowess and understood why his father had gone to such great lengths to bring this man here.

The battle between the two continued.

After several rounds of back-and-forth attacks, both of them were slightly out of breath. Although they didn't want to admit it, but...

Isaac was at a disadvantage in the previous match.

This is so awkward.

Isaac was starting to lose his grip on the knife; the area between his thumb and forefinger was already cracked from the impact.

'If I had been as strong as her back then, I would at least be a brigadier general by now.' Thinking this, Isaac drew his sword and warily looked at the indifferent girl in front of him.

We need to figure out a way to win.

However, the girl in front of him didn't give Isaac any time to think. After adjusting her breathing, she charged straight at him, leaving Isaac with no choice but to swing his sword to meet her attack.

However, quite by chance, Isaac slipped.

After all, it was raining heavily, so it was normal for the deck to be a bit slippery.

Isaac slipped to the ground, and the girl's knife missed its mark, but without hesitation, she instantly changed her grip from overhand to underhand and thrust the knife at the person sitting on the ground.

It looked like it was about to be pierced through.

As Isaac watched the knife aimed at him, a sudden thought struck him, and in a flash, he slammed his hands together on the deck.

boom!

A flash of blue lightning appeared, and two huge spikes emerged from the deck, heading straight for the girl.

The girl was startled by the sight before her. Her usually indifferent eyes flickered for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and arched her back to dodge the two sharp spikes.

"..." Isaac now felt really ashamed.

He even resorted to alchemy to deal with a little girl. Are kids these days really that amazing?

While Isaac was pondering, the sailors who were still watching the battle were so shocked that their jaws almost dropped to the ground.

"What was that just now? Suddenly two spikes popped up from the ground..."

"Is Mr. Isaac... a monster...?"

"Shut up! That's alchemy! Calm down!" Dietrich scolded the sailors, then turned to Isaac.

'Is this alchemy? This is the first time I've ever seen it.'

Isaac felt he couldn't do anything to the girl. He thought that even though she was alone on a strong ship with a bunch of sailors and him, he should be able to take her down.

I glanced at the group of sailors behind me who were still watching the show...

It seems we can't count on that.

Although it would be easy to subdue this girl using alchemy, but...

It's really embarrassing!

Isaac now strongly suspects that his physical abilities have declined because he developed a habit of staying in the laboratory to conduct experiments and not going out since he learned alchemy.

To be honest, this possibility is not nonexistent.

But who is Isaac? A soldier trained by the Northern Army of Amestris! And what is the Northern Army? A group of savage, bloodthirsty men! Would they fear a little girl?

Isaac picked up the knife and walked towards the girl, facing her icy, chilling gaze.

He threw the knife on the ground.

"How about we stop fighting?"

"?"

This isn't cowardice; it's strategic reconciliation.

We don't even know where the girl came from. A person can't just appear out of thin air on the sea. What if there's an ambush nearby? If we keep fighting, who knows what will happen to our reputation?

His brain must be gone.

The girl was also confused about what was wrong with the boy who had initially seemed so murderous; her face was full of questions.

"Look, we can't decide a winner if we keep fighting like this, so why don't we just stop?" Isaac said to the little girl, trying his best to appear kind.

The little girl seemed to realize that Isaac meant her no harm and gradually relaxed her guard, slowly lowering the knife she had been holding in front of her chest.

Was she really sent by the enemy? Or what were the enemy afraid of when they sent her?

'When did she sneak in? There are sailors on the ship on alert; they should have sounded the alarm immediately if they noticed anything approaching.'

There was no murderous intent in his eyes...

Isaac then turned to Dietfried and yelled, "What's going on? How did this guy get on board?! What are you sailors doing?"

At this moment, Dietrich paused for a long time before speaking, "She...she's actually been on the ship all along..."

"!"

"I found her on a deserted island a long time ago, and I've always kept her with me, thinking she'd be a useful tool." He suddenly gritted his teeth as he said this, "But I never expected... this monster would actually..."

You could still feel his deep fear as he said this.

"A prop?" Isaac glanced at the girl. She wasn't wearing any decent clothes, and there were faint scars on her exposed legs, which were clearly not from a battle.

"..." Without thinking too much, he took off his coat and draped it over the girl. The girl shivered slightly, but did not refuse, after all, it was raining and cold outside.

After taking the girl to her resting place, he tossed a towel to the girl, who now looked pitiful, and went out of the room to find Dietrich, whose face was somewhat gloomy.

"Let's talk."

Chapter Ten: She is My Future Lieutenant

In the command room, Dietrich and Isaac looked at each other in bewilderment.

Isaac spoke first: "What is her background?"

“A…monster…” Dietrich was still reeling from the death of his men.

"I found her on a deserted island while I was sailing at sea. She's been following me ever since, and I can't shake her off. I originally intended to use her as a prop, but she actually..."

"Since she's your 'prop,' why didn't you let me stop when I was fighting her?" Isaac asked, not paying much attention to the fact that the person in front of him referred to a girl of about 12 years old as a prop.

"..." This time, Dietrich fell silent.

“Just as I thought.” Isaac stared into Dietrich’s eyes. “You’re afraid, aren’t you!”

"!"

“You’re afraid of that girl you call a ‘tool’!” Isaac ignored him and continued, “After you found her, you wanted to use her because of the fighting power she showed, but you’re still afraid of her, or rather, you hate her.”

Dietrich clenched his fists, his jaw clenched tightly.

It seems my prediction came true.

"While wanting to use her, you also feared and loathed her. With this conflicting feeling, you kept her by your side, but never treated her as a human being... or rather, you didn't dare to treat her as a human being."

"..." He remained silent, seemingly acquiescing to everything.

"The injuries on her body must have been inflicted by you. Judging from my duel with her just now, as long as I didn't intend to kill her, she would stop immediately. You relied on violence against her to reduce your fear of her, and she silently endured it because you didn't intend to kill her when you hit her."

“…You’re right.” Letting out a long breath, Dietrich finally admitted it.

“Looks like I was right…” Isaac looked at his gloomy face and continued, “The reason you didn’t stop me when I was fighting her just now was because you wanted to use me to get rid of her, right?”

"..." There was silence for a long time, then he sighed and asked, "You guessed that too?"

“It’s simple. Your fear of her reached its peak after she killed your men, but none of you here except me are a match for her. So when you saw me take action, you thought I would take care of this trouble for you,” Isaac said indifferently.

"...Aren't you angry?"

"what do you mean?"

"Regarding the fact that I used you."

“No, it’s your willingness to utilize what’s around you that shows you’re a shrewd person.” She showed no displeasure at Dietrich’s exploitation of her; on the contrary, her tone was full of admiration.

"However, there's one thing you can't do: you hate your own 'props'. Have you ever seen me hate the knife in my hand?"

"But she is..."

"I know what you're going to say, 'monster,' huh? If she's a monster, then what am I?"

“It’s different… I can’t see any human emotion in her at all… it’s like…”

Doll!

Not only Dietrich, but even Isaac felt the same way. The emotionless eyes, the excessively beautiful face, and the perfect fighting instincts despite their lack of skill all made them seem like creatures different from humans.

"Putting that aside, why did she suddenly start killing people today?"

"Those sailors wanted to defile her..."

"And then you ordered her to kill your men?"

"!"

Dietrich suddenly looked at Isaac in surprise.

"You noticed that too?"

“She won’t act unless she senses any killing intent. Without your orders, even if you really wanted to do something to her, she probably wouldn’t resist,” Isaac said. “Don’t be sad for those scum. If I had soldiers like that, I would have shot them long ago.”

"That's true, but they were all soldiers who had followed me for many years, and now they're just dying like this..."

“If these soldiers are left around for too long, they will disrupt military discipline. It’s better for them to die.” Isaac said these cruel words, showing no concern whatsoever about the deaths of those sailors.