In a big mansion, obviously meant for someone of high status, there were several rooms. All of them were decorated with the finest pieces of art one could find in the Western Continent.
Yet none of these rooms stood close to the room where 3-1-2 was now in, which was without a doubt the most beautiful of them all. Either because the one who had been given the task to decorate the mansion had put great effort into this room in specific, or perhaps because of the woman now occupying it.
3-1-2 was fulfilling his duty as a member of the Stygian clan and serving as the bodyguard of the wife of his Lord.
His Lady was someone of great beauty and heart. Her smile warmed the hearts of every servant of the mansion and of every person, man or woman that looked at it, except perhaps her husband's, of course, she wasn't aware of the last fact.
If he were to tell his past self about her, he would probably scoff in disbelief. "How could such a person possibly be real?" he would probably say.
And if it weren't for the fact that he was now looking at her, he would share the same disbelief.
"Are you departing for another mission?"
"Yes, my Lady."
She seemed slightly disappointed.
"Ah~, I was planning to show you the flowers Elisa and I have been growing."
She sighed in regret.
He fought to restrain a smile that threatened to appear on his face. His Lady seemed troubled by the weirdest things.
"Well, there will surely be a next time! So, is this lady not allowed to know about this mission you are going to?"
Normally speaking, he shouldn't disclose anything about a mission, yet a few years ago, this woman in front of him melted all of his barriers and reached into his heart.
All of his lessons that had been taught to him vanished, and since then he had broken several rules, just to appease this woman that had forced herself into his heart.
"My familiar's clones were killed by an enemy of my Lord. I was told to eliminate the target now that we are aware of his existence."
"Is that so? Is it far away?"
"The mission is on Stygian Island."
That made her pause.
"The target, are they a Stygian as well?"
She was frowning.
'I hate it when she frowns. It makes me feel like I failed.'
"They are."
"Are you troubled about it?"
Of course he was. He was going to be sent to kill one of his brothers, one that according to what he saw through his familiar was slightly older than his young lady.
"... I am."
After a bit of hesitation, he admitted to the fact. This was something that he would never admit to anyone but the woman in front of him.
"I see."
Her expression was slightly downcast. But shortly after, her sad eyes became resolute.
"Come here."
She motioned him to come closer.
He did as he was told and walked forward from his previous kneeling position.
Once he was close, she took both of his hands into her own and tried to completely envelop them in the warmth of her hands. Her hands were much smaller than his. Her hands were incredibly smooth, while his were full of calluses from training and working. The nails on her hand were perfectly treated with a lovely red color, while his were jagged and cracked, some of them were black due to injuries.
She noticed that she couldn't fully cover his hands and then changed tactics.
One of her hands suddenly went towards his face and caressed his cheek. Her other hand pulled one of his hands towards her chest, inviting him to feel her heartbeat, revealing the emotions that she was hiding behind her calm expression.
Perhaps it was because of his lady's sudden affectionate actions, but 3-1-2 could swear that she was blushing.
'I must be going crazy.'
"Everything will be alright. I am sure that you will be able to pull through."
As if swallowing more words that she didn't want to yet say, she closed her eyes before pulling apart and saying her last words towards him.
"Now go. I will be here waiting, along with Elisa."
A little in a daze, 3-1-2 turned around and left, never to hear the words that she so wished to tell him.
"Please come back safely. I love you."
************************************
At the same time, over at Stygian Island, in Squad 9's training yard.
Nio was currently just sitting in his usual spot in one of the branches of the giant tree. With his hands behind his head, he was in a relaxing position simply thinking leisurely.
Some of the kids that were a little behind in cultivation threw some dirty looks in frustration. After all, they were using their free time to see if they could improve their cultivation, and there he was relaxing with no worries.
"So, Nio, when exactly are you planning to step into the Martial Begginer Realm?"
A voice could be heard nearby, prompting Nio to open his eyes and look at a nearby branch where a young girl with short white hair was sitting.
"Well, although I have already stabilized my cultivation, teacher said that stepping into a new realm was different compared to stepping into a new stage."
"Really?"
"Yup. Apparently, I need to witness a phenomenon called 'Deep Enlightenment', which supposedly is just a sudden epiphany about your own existence."
"Sounds complicated."
"According to him? Not that much, enlightnement comes easily to cultivators and that I would only need to experience a one of a kind scenario, that is why most members of the Stygian clan only reach the Martial Begginer Realm after graduating."
"Huh? But we still have a little over six months before graduating. Are you really going to wait for that long, Nio?"
"Of course not, that is why I have been meditating and going through a special training method that I call shadow training."
What he called shadow training was simply entering into a deep meditative state and simulating various scenarios, in this case they were mostly life-and-death battles.
But instead of pushing Nio to the edge and forcing him into enlightenment, it just turned out to be a new form of entertainment besides rewatching some of his favorite animes through the Anime System.
Regardless, it hasn't been a profitable endeavor.
Still useful though, especially since he was getting really good at it, he was even now perfecting the way to imagine opponents stronger than him by several leagues.
But regarding his goal to reach Martial Beginner, he was thinking of adapting shadow training to other life-and-death scenarios other than fights.
And there was still the thing with the Horned Rabbit.
His quest to kill it was not completed even after decimating the entire crowd of rabbits last night.
In the end it seemed that the original rabbit had the ability to clone itself or had the ability to have several members of its own species.
That also meant that the Horned Rabbit was not a beast in the Mind Tempering stage and instead was of a higher stage possibly even in a higher realm.
That was worrying, but not that much.
Now that he knew of that single truth he could catch the damn rabbit off guard and bait it into attacking him with its actual body.
It wouldn't be easy but not impossible, but there was still something telling him that it was not that simple and that there was something else happening.
'I hope it's only in my head and that I'm worrying about nothing.'
Regardless, he would once again go to the forest tonight as well as tomorrow night and the night after that, until he finished off the damn rabbit.
He was already training his [Full Concentration Breathing] to better use his reward once he killed the damn rabbit in the same way he killed the damned panther.
He was ready.
*****************
Somewhere along the coast of the Stygian Island during the night, a boat had just arrived.
The boat by itself was nothing grand, however for the people standing guard the emblem imprinted into the sails put everyone on edge.
The guards were all members of the Stygian tasked to defend that specific area since it was often used by the Nell family as a safe port to rest and restock supplies.
The emblem in the sails was none other than the symbol of the Nell clan, which was carrying 3-1-2.
When meeting with the captain of the Squad in charge of the port, they went through the normal greetings.
"Captain 1-2-3 from Squad 1, what is your purpose here, brother?"
"At ease, captain. I'm 3-1-2, here for a mission in the name of my Lord."
"Understood, good luck in your mission, brother. I will treat you to a drink once you are back."
"Appreciated, brother. Well, I'm off."
And so 3-1-2 stepped towards the approaching conflict at the same time that Nio was doing the same.
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