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Heji glanced at Aleya, seeming to harbor lingering fears about her swordsmanship. Even though he didn’t say it clearly, it could be seen from how his brows were wrinkled and how quickly he departed. Aleya hugged her sword as she followed behind me.

Actually, I could understand Heji’s feelings since, to be honest, both parties had come to a consensus that they were just comparing notes for a bit. If one side was predisposed to hold a “it’s either you die or I die” attitude, the opposite side wouldn’t be happy to comply no matter who it was. Imagine if there were all sorts of suspicions one side held about the other; even if the two parties were the best of friends, it was entirely possible that it would end up with both sides breaking all friendly ties. If this result could happen to even the best of friends, what’s not to say that it won’t happen between two completely unfamiliar strangers.

Presumably, Heji won’t easily guide Aleya in the field of swordsmanship in the future.

Aleya hugged her sword silently, but even so, I could see that she was feeling downcast.

I smirked while patting her shoulder:

“What, feeling distressed?”

Aleya shook her head and whispered in response:

“The swordsmanship young master taught is definitely the best swordsmanship. It’s just that Aleya’s talent is limited, so she’s unable to learn young master’s sword of unpredictable changes and only able to learn a little part. I’m just worried……if I stay stuck at Level 6 Swordsman perfection realm for 10 years too, within those 10 years, Aleya isn’t sure that she’ll be able to protect young master.”

I realized it then.

In the past, Aleya rarely had chances to interact with those swordsmanship experts and always trained on her own.

Therefore she has a hope in her heart, a hope that tells her that maybe she’ll promote to the next realm the very next day, a hope that makes her feel that her training speed is very quick. But then suddenly someone told her that it could be years before she promotes to the next realm; it was like somebody had poured cold water on her burning passion.

I pulled on Aleya’s hand and said:

“Let’s take a walk around the streets.”

Aleya didn’t refuse my invitation, but she did refuse to hold hands with me, instead opting to hold her sword as she followed by my side.

I placed both hands behind my head and gazed at the blistering sun above our heads. The hot spell during autumn had just arrived, the summertime heat still hadn’t dispersed.

The warm temperature from the pavement permeated the soles of my cloth shoes, making the heat wave feel one level hotter.

When I first met you, you were holding a wooden sword, standing alone within the crowd. You were jeered at, treated coldly, but wasn’t I treated the same? The only difference between us was that I was the son of an ambition-less Overlord, yet I was still forced to get caught on various kinds of annoyances and troubles, and even up until this point, I still haven’t achieved peace. We’re both people of the lowest rung, we’re the trash, we’re the gutter rats, we’re not people of the same race in the eyes of those upper elites.”

I turned my head to look at Aleya and indifferently said:

“Because they’ve never experienced the feeling of eating food that chafes their inner throats, they’ve never experienced the feeling of worrying about whether or not they’ll be able to live to the next day. And so, they’ll never understand. In their eyes, our fear and uneasiness, our anxiety and restlessness, our great efforts made towards survival, they’re not worth even a copper coin in their eyes.”

People came and went, the streets were bustling with activity.

There was a malnourished weak lass peddling a basket full of wildflowers. I purchased a garland and helped Aleya place it on her head. Aleya followed by my side just like before, now with a garland on her head, and her face was still as wooden as before, but I could see the tension on her face visibly ease.

Aleya stubbornly stated:

“Young master is different from Aleya. Young master is the most powerful person that Aleya’s ever met. If young master puts his mind to something, then that something will definitely be accomplished. No matter what it is.”

This time I didn’t refute her.

I looked towards Aleya and smiled:

“However, if I did everything just because I could do it, when would I ever have time to accompany you guys?”

Aleya tilted her head in doubt.

I moved away my line of sight:

“You see, I once met a hero. Naturally, a genuine hero. The kind to even sacrifice his own life for the world. He was very strong, able to accomplish plenty of inconceivable feats on his own, and always appearing whenever everybody needed him. However, I rarely saw him smiling and he rarely talked to me. It was because there was always somebody who needed him, so he was constantly on the move. He lived his entire life as a hero and while I do very much admire him, I made a firm resolution from that time onwards that I wouldn’t live my life like his.”

I paused for a moment, then continued:

“Therefore, things that I can obviously accomplish, I am unwilling to really take charge of them all. Because it’s very boring. You and I aren’t heroes, you and I are ordinary people.”

I smiled at Aleya:

“That’s why, you should cheer up! You have to grow at a much faster pace than Heji because you’re my guard; my life or death completely depends on your ability. I’ve already thought it through. Your sword is one for killing people, so ordinary training methods yield very small results. If you want to advance by leaps and bounds, you’ll need to take an alternate route. After a period of time, once Fang Thirteen and that group of hers retreats, you’ll come with me and we’ll be heading westwards.”

I raised my hand into the air and pretended to grasp something, then made a gesture similar to swinging a sword and told her:

“For killing people, your current standard isn’t enough and that is what’s influencing your mental state. We will be going to the Demon Race Territory and killing them until there are rivers of blood. Once the skeletons under your feet become a mountain and you see an ocean of blood and corpses, that’s when your swordsmanship will naturally become the first under the heavens.”