The Records of an Overpowered Herb Hunter

6.2 Thank you

- Before -

Next was Takeshi's favourite practical class. After changing into an all black outfit that was more suited for combat, Aki finally felt comfortable in her clothes.

"Today is a free class. If you want to have a duel, get into a ring."

"YOSSSHHH!!! Aki, let's go to the shooting range and practice our shooting magic!"

Takeshi stretched and walked ahead, leading Aki to the corner. Heiki was running the perimeters instead, aiming to build his strength and stamina to better craft his weapons.

They reached a shooting range where some were using guns, magic wands or simply their bare hands.

Occupying a lane for themselves, Aki stood at Takeshi's side, watching.

"GO!"

"SHOOOOOT!"

"AUURRGGHHH.... BANG!"

"HMMMMUUUGGGHHH.... HA!"

Although Takeshi was trying to hit the target, he ended up hitting everything else but the target. With increasingly incoherent shouts, his aim was getting closer and closer to the target.

Aki looked at Takeshi giving his best and never losing his smile, it made her lips quirk up as well.

Takeshi always made training look so fun.

"Maybe you should-"

"Pft- HAHAHAHHA, look at that. And he still wants to be a magician?"

A harsh mocking laughter cut Aki off as a blond guy walked towards Aki and Takeshi with his minions trailing behind him.

He had been in the same class with Takeshi for the past three years. In his eyes, Takeshi was unrefined, incompetent and totally beneath him.

Yet, every assessment Takeshi managed to always score better than him! He was also more popular than him! And now he even had a beautiful girl accompany him as he showed such a pathetic performance.

"With such aim, he might as well quit! Save his party the trouble of covering his ass when he misses. Or rather, when will he NOT miss? "

The minions laughed and giggled, attracting other students' attention as well.

Aki looked at the male student with eyes so cold that could freeze an A class monster where it stood. Yet, the oblivious blondie was still mocking Takeshi even though Aki was between them.

"Such a noob that he even cannot hit a standard-"

Facing the group, Aki extended her hand outwards and pointed towards the targets.

Crack-

A split moment later, all the targets cracked and burst into pieces. Surprised high-pitched screams came from the surrounding students who were nearer to the targets.

A heavy silence hung in the air.

Finally meeting Aki's gaze, the blonde gulped. If looks could kill, he would be dead at where he stood.

"Aki, it's okay. They are just cowards who could not fight in a proper match and can only mock others."

Takeshi placed his hand on Aki's shoulder as an assurance and in comfort.

"Tsk."

Knowing that she had caused too much commotion, Aki left and made her way to the stands that surrounded the training area. Overlooking the whole stadium, she saw Takeshi waving his magic fist around and teaching the group a lesson.

Aki tried to calm her emotions. But all she wanted to do was to take Shinshu and show the blonde a world of pain. Literally.

A figure flashed and appeared at Aki's side. Casting a glance at the figure, Aki recognised that it was the shadow guard that she met in the Prince's room.

"Babysitting?"

"Hahaha. Well, that's what a shadow guard is essentially. I'm Felix."

"Aki."

"You can ignore their antics. It's just children spouting nonsense without knowing that sometimes the things that can kill a person are much more than just a sword."

Aki clenched her fist and relaxed it after a moment.

"But... it's better if they never do come to know..." Aki mumbled.

"Yo, what's with this depressing atmosphere." A hand landed on Aki's head and ruffled her black hair.

Looking up, she met a pair of crimson eyes.

Aki did not know why despite being cautious about Roku, she still allowed him to be in close contact with her. Putting her guard down for someone who seemed stronger than her was always a foolish choice.

Maybe it's because of the way he looked at her so directly with a gaze so clear, as if he understood all her past experience and everything that she was.

But... that's not possible right? After all, they had only met twice and it was for brief periods of time.

"Hmm? If you're bored, let's duel?"

Hearing this, a strange excitement zinged through Aki.

It had been so long since she had a proper duel. She did not know when it was that she became so afraid of using her full strength. A friendly match might end up accidentally killing the opponent if she was not careful.

If it's against Roku though, Aki could probably use her full strength and still lose.

Moving to a private ring, Roku set the stage and barrier settings to maximum and tossed Aki a wooden sword.

"We're not using our own swords?"

"No real swords allowed here."

Aki looked down at the shabby sword, disappointed. Seeing this, Roku laughed.

"If you want, we can battle again at the basement in the Hunter's guild. They have a professional ring that can withstand more damage."

They got into position, each standing at opposite ends of the ring. After gauging each other for a while, with tacit understanding, Roku and Aki began dashed towards the center.

When looking from the outside, all that could be seen are after images that's so fast that everything is blurry. And only the sound of wooden swords hitting each other could be heard at a very fast pace.

And as Aki clashed her sword against Roku's, she could see his eyes that were filled with laughter which also made Aki smile.

The parry carried on for a full 30 minutes with no end in sight. Rather than a duel, it was more like two children playing around with swords. Of course, playing with wondrous techniques and skills that no ordinary person could ever think of acquiring.

This was also a comfort to Aki, knowing that there's someone out there who could match her or even defeat her, that she was not the odd one out, the strange one with too much strength and that she was not alone.

Breaking apart, Aki was ready to launch into another attack when the bell rang.

"Well, fun times always pass so fast." Roku wiped his sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

Relaxing her posture and steadying her breath, a dazzling smile bloomed on Aki's face.

"Thank you, let's do this again."