Although Ash must have been someone of some significance to have become a target, everyone looked at him as though they were looking at a dead man, and they all moved away from him in unison, afraid they might accidentally get caught up in it, or that blood might splash onto them and be difficult to wash off.
Even Eris, who always liked to act first, couldn't move. Her face was flushed red, and although it felt like she might charge out at any moment, her hands and feet were trembling constantly, while the hand gripping the sword hilt had even turned white from gripping it too tightly.
It was obvious that this child, who had rarely been afraid of anything before, was once again feeling fear... fear of someone countless times more terrifying than that A-rank monster.
But Ash was different from everyone else present. He merely tilted his head slightly in confusion, sizing up the old woman before him, and asked in puzzlement, "Water God? Do we know each other? Or did I accidentally kill one of your relatives or friends?"
"No, we don't know each other, and we shouldn't have any grudge between us. If nothing unexpected happened, this should be our first meeting. But... I still have to kill you. Don't blame me. Sometimes, people simply cannot predict or prevent unfortunate encounters."
Reida seemed somewhat unwilling in her heart, but she had a reason why she had no choice but to do this. Her words were mixed with a sigh, making the already tense atmosphere even heavier.
However...
"Is it possible that you're the unfortunate one?"
Ash wasn't affected at all. In fact, the moment he said this, the surrounding area erupted in an uproar. Even Eris kept shaking her head at him, hoping he would first try to avoid the fight instead of escalating the conflict.
After all, although the Sword Emperor was very strong, there was definitely still a huge gap between him and the Water God.
"Haha~ To remain calm in front of me, and even speak so boldly... How nostalgic. How many years ago was it the last time I encountered something like this?", After laughing and looking down on everyone around her, she suddenly said, "Come with me first. There's something I want to ask you."
"What? You already want to kill me, yet you actually think I'll obediently go with you?"
"You don't want the little girl beside you to suffer either, do you?"
"I see. A threat? I do like threatening other people, but... I'm rather hypocritical about this. I don't like being threatened."
At first, Ash had also wanted to keep this person alive. After all, she was a genius, and he was somewhat reluctant to kill her. But now he had decided, perhaps he really should just kill her?
Although Ash had the thought of resolving the other party immediately, after thinking about it again, he truly couldn't bear to.
After all, Water God Reida could be called one of the rarest powerhouses in the world. To kill her so easily would undoubtedly be an enormous waste.
Judging from the information he possessed, Reida was undoubtedly a genius with extraordinary talent. Compared with the Water Gods of previous generations, her abilities were in no way inferior.
Such a rare powerhouse... he felt that no matter what, he had to personally experience her swordsmanship first. He couldn't simply waste her.
But Ash had no intention of leaving either. He simply calmly stared directly at the displeased old woman, making Eris tightly bite her lips in this suffocatingly tense atmosphere, almost biting them hard enough to leave blood marks.
"Hey, hey! Quick... quickly run, okay?", Eris endured the fear in her heart and reminded Ash in a trembling, quiet voice. At the same time, she anxiously reached out and tugged at the hem of his clothes, "If we don't leave now, it'll be too late. She's the Water God. We can't beat her at all!"
"Don't worry so much. I'll deal with her."
"B-But..."
Eris still wanted to persuade him, genuinely worried that he would meet with disaster here. But Ash merely turned back with a light laugh, patted her head, and without even looking, asked Reida, who was not far away:
"In the end, why do you want to kill me? No matter what, there should at least be a reason, right?"
"I had a dream," Reida slightly furrowed her brows, as though she had fallen into her memories. After thinking for a moment, she still slowly whispered, "A very, very long time ago, before any of you were born, there was a little girl who had become too proud because everyone praised her as a genius. She beat the nobleman inside the dojo until he was utterly battered. Naturally, that nobleman later took revenge on her. Outnumbered, she was beaten half to death in just a few blows, and even both of her hands nearly got cut off. But she was saved by a young nobleman whose status was higher than that nobleman's."
"Sorry, I don't understand at all. What does this have to do with me?"
"Although he was plain-looking, the girl initially thought he was someone who was righteous from the bottom of his heart. When she was young, she even thought, if she could meet that person again, then she would," Reida did not answer his question. Instead, she sighed as if talking to herself, "Unfortunately, she later discovered that the young man was actually a twisted, thoroughly rotten bastard."
"That's pretty impressive. So even being saved by an ugly person doesn't necessarily mean you have to repay him by being his ox or horse in the next life," Ash didn't know what Reida had looked like when she was young, but as a super-genius who had been able to advance to the god level, she was definitely more particular than any beauty.
For someone like her to fall in love with someone just because he saved her once, despite him being very ugly, was somewhat surprising to Ash. But...
"It sounds like a story with a little novelty in an otherwise clichéd tale. But after saying all that, what does it have to do with you coming to kill me?"
"To some extent, it does," Reida smiled helplessly.
But Ash's face was covered in black lines, "I completely don't understand! So you're saying I accidentally killed your benefactor? Although I feel like I shouldn't have randomly killed innocent people?"
"Have you heard of the Man-God?", Reida raised her head, calmly looking at Ash as she softly asked a strange question.
"No."
"Then this matter ends here. Although the girl's love has already come to an end, I cannot cause trouble for my benefactor. If you want to resent someone, then resent the Man-God and me."
"You think you'll lose?"
"No. It's just that there are too many people here. Killing everyone to silence them would take some time. To make absolutely sure, I would at least have to massacre the city. But I'm not a mage. If the people scatter and flee during the cleanup, chasing them down afterward would be troublesome. And..."
As Reida spoke, she wore an expression as though she found something rather difficult to understand, and slightly shrugged.
"I admit that the Man-God said your existence is unique, so I am also somewhat unable to make up my mind. I was even reminded to leave as many traces and people behind as possible during the battle. Although it is impossible for me to lose, if something unexpected happens... it would be better not to massacre the city."
"Pretty loyal, aren't you? So you're a follower of an evil religion?"
"How could that be? I'm only repaying a debt," Reida sighed as though confessing, and without saying anything more, she softly said, "At my age, I actually don't really want to kill a girl, so I can give you an opportunity. Say goodbye to your woman."
"My woman," Ash thought for a moment, then lowered his head to look at Eris. Suddenly, he crouched down with a serious expression and said, "My woman, there's something I must tell you."
"W-What is it?", Eris looked at Ash nervously, momentarily forgetting to deny his strange way of putting it.
"Actually, I like you!"
Ash looked into Eris's eyes and said it word by word.
After all, the other party had already taken things this far. Whether out of basic courtesy or consideration for her identity, he had to say something fitting for the occasion.
As he spoke, he even gently placed both hands on Eris's somewhat thin shoulders, imitating the way those domineering CEOs he saw in soap operas looked when announcing something important.
"Wh... why are you suddenly saying something like that at a time like this?"
When Eris heard this, she froze at first. Then the expression on her face instantly became somewhat complicated, her features unconsciously twisting slightly, as though she were trying to endure some enormous pain. She tightly grabbed his hands and kept shaking her head.
This wasn't a rejection. She was simply so uneasy that she was almost crying.
This reaction, which was different from what he had imagined, also made Ash somewhat troubled.
"Sorry, sorry. I was joking. I was just trying to say something like that following her words. I apologize for that, but... let's put that aside for now. There really is something more important that I must tell you."
Feeling that teasing a child like this wasn't very good, especially in this kind of situation, he might cause people to misunderstand him in some strange way, making it difficult for him to show his face outside afterward.
Although in this era, having a child of Eris's age as a lover wasn't strange, he still had his own moral bottom line. He hurriedly apologized while guiltily stroking Eris's head.
But even at a time like this, he could still joke around, leaving the people watching from the side dumbfounded. Some even suspected that he was taking this opportunity to confess his true feelings.
Eris felt even more as though her head couldn't keep up. She simply stared blankly at him, unable to say a single word for quite some time.
Even the expression on Reida's face became somewhat strange. She truly couldn't understand young people nowadays. At a life-or-death moment, when they were about to face a battle to the death, he actually still had the mind to joke around.
Even for this old woman who had experienced so much in life, this state of mind was difficult to understand.
After all, this kind of last will... wasn't it a little strange?
The surroundings should have been noisy, but the presence of Water God Reida had somehow made the area quiet. There wasn't even a single heckle.
And while everyone else thought he was about to die... with such a good opportunity, Ash naturally couldn't help wanting to try saying the line he had always wanted to say before but had never had the chance to say to anyone, nor had a suitable person to say it to.