A month had passed since then, and a lot had happened.
To express his gratitude, Judas had to sneakily give Mika some indirect guidance to help her improve her magic spell.
"What if you can clone someone's appearance with your wooden golems?"
Questions like these were the kind Judas would blurt out 'randomly,' giving Mika the much-needed inspiration she sought—igniting sparks to light up the fire of creativity in her brain.
Since then, Judas would sometimes see Mika training outside the village, the other elves cheering her on.
"Judas, I want you to take a look at this."
Excited, Mika suddenly appeared in front of Judas, who was carrying a bucket of water to his house.
After much persuasion, Judas had finally convinced the elves to stop referring to him with an honorific.
"Mika, wait up..."
The group of elves followed behind her.
'These guys... why do I always see them together.'
Judas thought in his mind before turning his eyes to Mika, who had already begun chanting.
"Viridia Excitare!"
Judas expected plenty of wooden soldiers to pop out, but he was caught a bit off guard when Mika had only summoned two.
"Tadah! Surprised?"
Mika grinned, holding her staff behind her back.
Judas had to blink twice when he saw their appearance.
'It is a little bit disturbing.'
Instead of the usual tree-like appearance he had seen previously, these two wooden golems resembled familiar faces he knew.
One was himself, and the other was his mother.
Although it was not a perfect replication of their appearance—the rough texture of their skin and grainy color, the splintered edges, and the jagged, uneven shapes made it obvious they were just replicas.
However, there was no doubt that effort had been put into it.
"That is impressive. You managed to do this much in just a month?"
"Right? It took me a while to figure out, but if I lower the amount that I summon, I can concentrate more on adjusting their size, shape, and appearance without using too much mind."
Right now, Mika stared at Judas with puppy eyes, her face practically saying, praise me some more.
"Miss Mika worked really hard. You should pat her head to reward her, sir— I mean Judas, she will like it."
A female elf with pink hair stepped forward with a grin.
"Cindy! W-what are you saying!?"
Mika shrieked with a blush on her face.
"Don't give me that. Last night, you were giggling while thinking about it—"
Cindy continued to tease but was forced to stop when Mika put a hand over her mouth.
"Sorry about that, Judas. I wanted to show you my progress, we'll be on our way."
With that, she had to forcefully drag Cindy with her as she dashed away, leaving behind a trail of smoke and dust.
Judas shook his head with a sigh of relief and picked up his bucket.
When he reached his house, he found a dwarven man with a giant sword on his back standing at the front door.
"There you are, lad. Come on, it's time for your training."
"Uncle Marco."
Judas smiled wryly.
Just a little over a week ago, when Judas had gained some memories of Estelon's sword skills, he grew curious and wanted to try swinging a sword himself.
Marco, the village's local swordsman, happened to pass by and decided to turn Judas into his disciple after seeing his 'talent' with the sword.
Now, Judas had a muscly little dwarf that followed him around, obsessed with turning him into his disciple.
Just as Judas was about to open his mouth, his father slammed the door open, spear in hand, and glared at the dwarf swordsman.
"Marco, you bastard! For the last time, my son doesn't need to learn to use an inferior weapon like the sword. A spear is obviously superior!"
George yelled with anger, which made Marco's eye twitch.
"Just because your dumbass is good at using a measly little stick doesn't mean you can insult the sword, George."
Veins started throbbing on George's head.
"You want to get your ass beat, you little short piece of shit?"
The grip on his spear tightened as the air thickened.
"Haha... you have such a short temper, but in front of your wife you're a meek little kitten."
Marco grabbed the handle of his sword as the two glared at each other.
"Oh boy, here we go again."
Judas grabbed his water bucket and took a couple of steps back.
In the next second, sword and spear clashed, scattering dust around them.
"They started fighting."
Judas muttered as a couple of villagers gathered to witness the spectacle.
"Wow, they are fast."
"As expected of level 2 adventurers, my eyes can't keep up with their movements."
The crowd exclaimed.
Judas scanned the battle with his eyes.
For a normal person, level 2 adventurers were superhuman—too quick to track with their vision.
But for Judas, they were slow enough for him to scrutinize and evaluate their every move. Not a single motion escaped his line of sight.
'Nothing sophisticated.'
He commented in his head.
'Their basics are solid, and they reached a decent level of proficiency with their weapons.'
'They didn't learn any weapon martial arts or techniques.'
'Although it's not complete, they seem to have pioneered their own style after many years of experience.'
This was his assessment.
While the crowd was growing bigger, in the midst of battle, the two were throwing verbal jabs at each other.
"George, you motherfucker, do you know that your son has talent with the sword? If you keep getting in the way, you'll be a hindrance to his future by preventing him from fulfilling his potential!"
While dodging a sword strike, George snorted coldly.
"What garbage has come out of your mouth? My son obviously has talent with the spear. You're the one getting in the way."
The two could not come to an agreement.
The fight had gone on for more than a minute.
Perched on top of a giant boulder, Judas yawned. A second later, his senses flared up, and he turned his head.
"Finally, she is here."
George and Marco froze up when a spine-chilling killing intent locked onto them.
"Do the two of you want to die?"
Judas squinted his eye as his mother, Irene, suddenly appeared between George and Marco, wielding twin daggers, the sharp edges pointed at their necks.
Irene glanced at the front door that had been ripped off its hinges, then at the devastated front yard littered with weapon marks, and finally at the ruined patch of flowers she had planted with so much love and care.
"I said, do the two of you want to die?"
When the two didn't reply, Irene's eyes glinted with a dangerous light as a wave of killing intent washed over them like a tidal wave.
"N-no."
"I-I want to live."
They eyed the blades dangerously close to their necks and couldn't help but stammer.
'Even if the two of them work together, they could never beat a level 3.'
Judas prayed for the poor souls that had to suffer his mother's wrath before carrying the water bucket on his shoulder and walking past them.
When he moved the door, he heard screams of pain behind him followed by a loud crash.
When he looked back, he saw his father and the dwarf swordsman with their heads buried in the dirt.
At dinner, the room was silent, and Judas couldn't help but glance at his father, who was covered in bandages as he silently ate.
"I'm finished."
Judas said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"Remember to brush your teeth before bed."
His mother stated, to which Judas gave a silent nod.
In his bedroom, Judas waited for his parents to fall asleep before escaping through the window.
Staring at the full moon that lit up the night sky, Judas took a deep breath.
"I think it's time for me to finally reach the 6th tier."
『Fly』
He lifted his body and flew into the air.
After covering some distance, he looked back at the village that was gradually getting smaller.
Completely unaware that this would be the last time.