A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

She and Bray have been together for almost two years now; time really flies.

Her growth rate is very slow; even now, she is only about a year older.

It includes both the body and the mind.

However, I've heard that the Heavenly Fox Tears can grant "eternal life," so maybe Bray can see the day Levy grows up.

But Bray didn't crave immortality; he felt it was, in a way, a curse.

A curse that leaves you helplessly watching everything around you slip away.

The ancient book I obtained from the fox clan village contained a lot of information about the Heavenly Fox Tears.

Bray also gained a slight understanding of what he had eaten.

Of course, there is no record in ancient books of how to eat the Heavenly Fox Tears, so the day of Bree was purely luck.

Even now, Bray still has the urge to pry out the Heavenly Fox Tear from time to time, even though he knows that this thing has long been locked together with his blood.

“Bray, Bray.” Levy suddenly shook Bray’s shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Levy seemed a little excited, so Bray was a bit puzzled.

"Let's go out and play!" she said excitedly, opening her arms wide.

Bray followed Levy's gaze and looked outside, discovering that it was raining heavily.

In the torrential rain, the children, wearing raincoats, were constantly splashing in puddles.

This seemingly childish gesture was incredibly attractive to Levy.

Bray had no choice but to reluctantly agree to Levy's request.

“Okay, let’s go out and play.” Bray lifted Levy high in the air.

Despite her large size, Levy is surprisingly light, perhaps because her strength has increased.

"Oh!" Levy wagged her tail rapidly, and her long ears flapped as well =V=.

She was overjoyed to hear Bray say he wanted to play with her.

If Bray says no, she won't go out to play by herself.

"Put on your raincoat." Bray grabbed Levy, who was about to dash off, and put a raincoat on her.

After putting on the raincoat, Levy trembled like a puppy.

As for Bray himself, he held up an umbrella.

His reason for not wearing a raincoat was simple: he thought it would look silly, so he didn't wear it.

It's not a big deal.

Bray made many choices without any particular reason, and sometimes the reasons were even puzzling.

"Splash!" The torrential rain fell, trickling down the eaves.

Even though no other children were playing with Lebby, she still enthusiastically splashed in the water.

Her joy was so simple and unpretentious.

Bray didn't join Levy in playing in the water; instead, he stood quietly beside her.

"Bray, Bray, this way." Levy left afterimages in the rain as she ran back and forth.

It was raining heavily, and there weren't many people on the street, so Levy didn't attract much attention.

Normally, it would be quite frightening for a child to run so fast that they leave a blur on the street.

The rain washed away the surrounding smells, giving Levy a fresh and clean world.

Bray stood under the umbrella, gazing intently at the raindrops.

A simple life is good enough; there's no need to worry about anything.

But for Bray, this mundane life was ultimately short-lived.

In any case, he could not escape the curse of being a monk—and at this time, he was not yet aware of it.

Suddenly, Levy's ears perked up.

Amid the noisy rain, she heard other sounds.

"There's a fight going on." Levy keenly sensed that someone was fighting not far away.

"Fighting in the rain?" Bray narrowed his eyes.

His intuition was so-so, but experience told him that something bad must have happened.

Bray looked around; this was the imperial capital, which had only been rebuilt a year ago.

The city, which had painstakingly recovered its former prosperity, could not withstand a second devastation, neither it nor the people within it.

“Levy, let’s go check it out.” Bray decided to send the Lions out.

The young police lion, who had been appointed to the post in a time of crisis, wagged his tail and lifted the hem of his raincoat.

"This way." Levy ran off in the blink of an eye, with Bray following closely behind.

Fortunately, Levy was always very sensible and would wait for Bray for a little while.

---

"I remember it was raining, not snowing."

“It shouldn’t be hailing.” Bray observed the surrounding environment.

Levy led Bray into the frost-covered alleyway.

In the alley, there are broken wooden boxes and walls that have been smashed.

The rain was trying to wash away the ice on the ground, but it seemed to be having some difficulty, probably because the ice was just too cold.

“Brave, there’s someone here.” Levy stood next to the pile of rubble and forcefully pulled someone out from inside.

Bray's teeth ached just looking at him; he wondered if the person who was pulled out was alright.

"Cough cough..." Fortunately, Levy knew her own strength and didn't kill the people in the rubble.

Levy laid the person on the ground to get rained on, waiting for Bray to come over.

Bray held up his umbrella and shielded the poor fellow from the rain.

"It's you?" Bray was slightly taken aback when he saw the thick face.

"Is it someone Bray knows?" Levy swayed as she tried to ask.

"Yes, I know him. We've met once." Bray nodded.

The man lying on the ground, near death, was Eric, whom Bray had met once before.

He had even worked with Eric once, so they could be considered acquaintances.

I never expected to see this guy again after all this.

"Hey, are you dead?" Bray leaned close to Eric and asked.

“If you hadn’t come, he would probably be dead,” Eric replied weakly, lying down. Bray pulled the dying Eric to his feet.

Unfortunately, this useless fellow, as soon as he stood up, leaned against the wall, pretending to be steady.

The rain soaked Eric, blurring his vision.

"Cough cough, this is the first time I've ever hated rain so much," Eric said helplessly.

Normally, he quite likes rainy days.

But this time he was beaten up in the rain, which made him a little unhappy.

"Who on earth dared to attack you?" If Bray remembered correctly, Eric should be a soldier of the Empire.

Isn't attacking soldiers a crime?

“Who knows?” Eric wiped the rain off his face.

He said he didn't know, but he knew certain things better than anyone else.

It's just that it's inconvenient to tell Bray.

"Phew..." He let out a long breath, feeling his eyes soaked by the rain.

I feel terrible and want to go back immediately and take a hot shower.

As he was thinking this, the rain began to subside, as if its fierce intensity had been a mere illusion.

“If you help me back, there will be a monetary reward,” Eric suddenly said to Bray.

"!" An exclamation mark appeared above Bray's head.

Bray prepared to carry Eric back to where the guy belonged.

"Don't even think about carrying me back, help me up."

"Cough cough cough..." Eric choked on the water in his nose and couldn't help coughing a few times.

With the final drip, the rain stopped completely.

But without warning, Levy started to get angry.

She was like a provoked wild animal, constantly threatening in a certain direction.

Her tail wagged slowly to maintain her balance, ready to gallop at full speed at any moment.

“It’s an unpleasant smell,” Levy said.

Bray stopped his attempt to carry Eric and looked in the direction Levy was looking.

He didn't sense anything unusual, but he trusted Levy's senses.

If even Levy's perception is wrong, then it's even more unreliable for her to do it herself.

"..." Bray squinted his right eye, barely able to see the figure in front of him.

Yes, the figure was right in front of him, but it was hard to guess or see clearly, as if it were shrouded in a fog.

Despite Levy's continued threats, the figure not only didn't retreat, but actually took a few steps forward.

These few steps finally allowed Bray to clearly see what the person in the figure looked like.

It was a woman with a blank expression, wearing a uniform distinctive to the federal army.

The woman didn't look particularly special; she wasn't especially beautiful, nor was she unattractive.

He could be considered somewhat heroic, but ultimately he was still quite ordinary-looking.

If she weren't holding a baby, she would probably look even more ordinary.

"Ahhh!!!" The baby in the arms of the federal female soldier kept crying out.

The crying sounded as if the child was waiting to be fed.

But the crying stopped abruptly the moment Bray looked at her.

The baby turned its head and smiled at Bray.

This laugh is not at all possible; on the contrary, it's chilling.

In the baby's eyes, Bray saw no innocence, but rather a world far more complex than that of an adult.

Can a baby really have that kind of look in its eyes? Are you sure it's not a baby disguised as a monster?

"It's you again?" Eric, standing beside her, seemed to recognize the federal female soldier and looked somewhat surprised.

"You know him?" Bray asked casually.

“I don’t know her, but she’s the one who almost killed me just now,” Eric said calmly.

He was ambushed on the street by this strange female soldier from the Federation.

In the subsequent head-on confrontation, he was also severely suppressed by his opponent.

Even when it rained, Eric couldn't beat her.

Losing is one thing, but what's strange is that the other person was holding a baby the whole time.

"Both the woman and the baby are strange."

"and..."