I Became a Childhood Friend With the Villainous Saintess chapter 20

20 – A Dangerous Journey (5)

After the attack during the night, I could finally get some sleep.

Serien endured her first night watch quite a while. More than I had expected.

Her face was tearful when she carefully touched me to wake me up, but she seemed to have managed well on her own.

However, she was quite scared throughout the night going back to sleep.

“sob, the leaves keep moving in the wind… and I hear strange noises. Can you just stay with me a little bit? It’s okay even for a short time.”

“Why not just sleep for a while? You’ve tried hard enough.”

“Can I? Then just lend me your hand for a little while.”

And so, I had spent the entire night with one hand taken away from me, and now was the time Sirien, who had fallen into a deep sleep, faced a painful morning.

– I want to learn how to use the sword starting tomorrow.

– Teach me at least the basics.

Last night’s words came to mind confidently, but today didn’t seem like a good day for me to teach her swordsmanship.

It was all because the princess was groaning in severe muscle pain.

Perhaps this was the first time Sirien had ever experienced something like this in her life.

Eudeudeudeuk!

“eeek?”

As Sirien tried to sit up, her body suddenly stiffened.

The sound of her bones creaked loudly enough to be heard clearly from here.

It didn’t seem like it hurt, but the sound coming from her body seemed to be quite shocking for her.

Her slightly opened mouth seemed to say, ‘I’m shocked right now.’

Her round eyes widened. Her red pupils looked at me with desperation.

Sirien neither sat up nor stood up, but rather maintained an awkward position.

She didn’t have the courage to fully stand up, and seemed too scared to lie down again.

I was quite interested in what decision she would make next.

“Razen! Is there something wrong with my body?”

“It seems like just muscle pain. Does it hurt anywhere?”

“My whole body aches. I can understand why my legs hurt, but my shoulders, waist, and back too. Even the slightest movement makes it feel like my body is being wrung. What do I do? Is this a big problem?”

What to do? It’s just muscle pain, so she should just move around to loosen up.

If it were an ordinary person, they would just say this and move on, but unfortunately, the person opposite me was a highly valued lady.

It would be better for me to show some dedication on my part.

A simple stretch should help her feel better.

It’s not that I wanted to play a cruel joke on her.

A massage on top of muscle pain might be more painful than expected, but isn’t that something I can’t help with?

“Come here, I’ll help you stretch.”

“Uhht! I’ll, I’ll be there in a sec.”

Sirien walked like a rusty, creaking robot.

Her unnatural and awkward steps indicated that she was probably trying to find the least painful way to move.

Her efforts were meaningless. After all, I had intended to force her to stretch anyway.

There was a way to just call me, but it seemed he hadn’t quite thought of that.

I decided to wait, it would be interesting to watch.

After all, there’s something beautiful about a person trying.

Eventually, Sirien, with a groan, made his way to me.

His walk was staggering, like that of a worn-out puppy.

As soon as Sirien arrived, I seized him and began to loosen his muscles.

Without mercy.

“Uh! Ra, Rajen. Gently! Gently!”

“If I’m gentle, it won’t loosen up.”

“Ah! I’ll hate you! I will never forgive you. Well, not never, but I won’t forgive you easily! kyah!”

Isn’t he hinting at forgiveness?

I heard it’s easier to forgive than to ask for permission.

I massaged the leg I had worked on previously and applied pressure to his aching back and waist.

After the session, Sirien pouted a lot, but he quickly behaved when I gently pacified him.

Sirien has always been surprisingly easy to handle.

I wondered what he was thinking as he blushed slightly and looked away at a distance.

In that direction was the place where the guy who had been following us was.

Is he worried? I didn’t think too hard about it

I asked Sirien to prepare breakfast while I attended to the wolf I had killed yesterday.

Even though it was more like roughly tearing off the skin and meat than preparing it.

So, I didn’t gain as much as I could have given the size of the beast.

Sirien, upon seeing me covered in the animal’s blood, had an alarming shock.

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We began our journey again around lunchtime

I slowed our pace compared to the previous day, knowing that Sirien had developed a lot of blisters on his feet.

Assuming it would be painful for him to walk, I also extended our rest periods.

The judgment was valid. Sirien seemed to be having a less difficult time than yesterday.

His increased conversation was evidence.

“Ah! I remember, today we were supposed to start learning swordplay. Can you teach me after lunch?”

“Yes, sure.”

Sirien babbled constantly.

Today’s weather was better than yesterday, and there was even the occasional scent in the forest.

As always, Siren had an inexplicable confidence in herself. She seemed to believe that she was quite talented in physical activities.

So, she thought she would quickly improve once she started learning swordsmanship.

However, as expected, Siren had no talent for the sword.

It was difficult for her even to properly swing the sword, let alone have any talent in it.

The sword felt quite large and heavy to me, but it was even more so for Siren.

But it wasn’t just the sword or strength that was the problem.

Surprisingly, muscle strength was not an issue.

Until now, Siren had not had any reason to use her strength directly, so I was unaware of her actual muscle strength. But it was just enough to give her a passing mark.

It was because there was no reason for the princess of Ellencia to struggle. She had no opportunity to test her strength.

Instead, there were plenty of people to help her with strength tasks.

But when I thought about it, there was no reason for Siren to be physically weak.

Before we entered that hut, Siren had always eaten well and energetically wandered around the castle. The old maidservant could barely keep up with her.

In other words, she had a good diet and a high level of physical activity.

Thanks to that, Siren had the body of a very healthy twelve-year-old girl.

So at first, when she swung the sword a few times, I wondered if this might work.

When I told her the beginning was okay, Siren’s eyes sparkled.

“See! I told you I might have talent, right? I’ve always been quick at learning anything!”

“Well…you were certainly good at studying.”

“It’s not just studying. It was the same when I learned to dance. If I learn to use the sword well, maybe someday I’ll be a better fighter than Razen.”

The princess of Ellencia laid out her great ambitions, but as I mentioned earlier, the results were not very good.

The feeling when she first swung the sword was okay. However, even after correcting her posture, there was no noticeable improvement.

She seemed to have only improved to the extent that I had taught her. Of course, it would be unfair to say she didn’t do this much either…

As an exception, Siren always showed talent in everything.

It was hard for her to shake off the idea that she was just ordinary by her standards.

Her way of applying force was not precise.

She used all her strength when swinging forcefully, and she couldn’t stop when she needed to.

She did well when told, but she only did exactly as instructed.

Her movements were so stiff that there were too many things to point out.

Especially, she struggled when two or more actions were connected.

Should I say she’s not good at adapting in real-time? Her movements were not natural.

Well, cunning had never been Sirien’s strong suit from the beginning.

She might improve with practice, but it didn’t seem like it would be satisfying to either of our standards.

“I give up! I’m done!”

In the end, Sirien threw down the sword with sulking frustration.

But even then, she didn’t throw it hard enough to risk damaging it.

Somehow, the value of Her Highness’s anger had become cheaper than a single sword…

“Is there no other option?”

“Hmm.”

As for other options…

Not that there were none at all.

We didn’t have many weapons.

The only ones were the single sword I was using and the spare one I handed over to Sirien, which were not much different in size and weight.

What remains, then…

“There’s a dagger and a hand axe? I have a dagger on me now.”

These were items we picked up after searching the bodies of the dead men in the cabin.

They were owned by men who died without even having a proper fight.

Neither of them looked particularly appealing.

A dagger would be easy to handle, but it lacked practicality.

To use it, one would have to get even closer than with a sword, which would be difficult even against yesterday’s wolves.

A Sirien fighting wolves with just a dagger did not seem to promise good results.

“If you’re going to fight at close range anyway, an axe would be better than a dagger.”

“Then I’ll try the axe first.”

“Are you sure? There’s usually a reason if you don’t use something.”

An axe was easy to use and powerful, but the problem of a short fighting distance was not resolved in any way.

Especially when the opponent was a monster with superior physical abilities, instead of a human.

I did not want to recommend such a weapon for self-defense to Sirien.

It might be different if it was used for throwing, but teaching knife throwing or axe throwing to a beginner was not a simple matter.

In the case of axe throwing, I wasn’t too confident either.

I didn’t have much experience, to be honest.

I was barely taught, just enough to get by.

In case I’d have to fight against savages, I learned how to use their weapon just enough to be careful.

I think the movement was like this.

“Can you follow along? Hold the handle at the end, like this for your wrist…”

It’s been a while since I’ve tried it, so I’m not sure if my demonstration is good enough.

Fortunately, when I tried, it managed to stick into the tree somehow.

And when Ciri threw hers.

I was on guard, thinking it might fly off to a strange place, but that worry was unnecessary.

The axe that Ciri threw stuck into the tree more precisely than mine.

“Huh?”

“This is it!”

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