Chapter 152: Peace II
Kazuka flipped up the wooden card on the left. It was a Thunder card, a lightning bolt shape that Takeshi had carved; it was quite ugly but still recognizable.
Takeshi was quite surprised, but he had flipped up an Earth card. Lightning striking the earth will be dispersed, so this attack was neutralized, thus no points were lost.
Because it was neutralized, Kazuka lost his turn and it was Takeshi's turn. Takeshi flipped the middle card; it was Fire.
Kazuka quickly flipped up a Water card, laughing loudly in triumph.
"Die."
But Takeshi had calculated in advance; he flipped up an Earth card. When Water meets Earth, it is immediately blocked. Takeshi was quite worried because Kazuka had one card left.
But Kazuka rubbed his head and flipped the remaining card. It was Earth. And Fire burns dry the earth.
So, Kazuka had lost.
Takeshi laughed loudly.
"I won, okay."
Kazuka was not convinced.
"Play again."
Takeshi nodded; suddenly something popped into his head.
"How about this. Whoever loses will be flicked on the ear ten times by the winner."
Kazuka nodded without hesitation.
Before long, both sides of their ears turned red from being flicked.
Since this game was thought of by themselves, it had some limitations, so there were a few things that needed improvement.
…
Moving to the girls…
Airi was sitting in front of a small lake, under a cool tree shade. She was quite natural while enjoying this scenery. Because the weather was hot, she wore a white outfit, no longer long pants but short pants, and her hair was tied high to be neater.
At this moment, she could hear even the birds singing and the rustling leaves.
But it seemed the peace was shattered by the sound of a wild boar. Ayaka was behind, chasing a large wild boar. Not holding a bow, not using energy, just two hands and two stones.
"Stop right there."
She had thought of a way to train her physical strength, getting food and being convenient at the same time. Not to mention running animals will find every way, so the running direction will be very hard to predict; that was why it was a challenge.
Airi let out a sigh because of the loss of quietness.
"So boring, having to stay in this corner is truly boring."
Elyssia was on the other side of the lake, fishing. Actually, it wasn't much like fishing; she didn't have a hook. So she tied a bit of meat to a string, then seized the opportunity when a fish bit to jerk the fish up.
The fishing rod was a string tied to a tree trunk and supported by a branch she stuck into the ground. This lake had quite few fish, so coming out here was mainly for relaxation.
Around her were many kinds of grasses, trees, flowers, and leaves; they were probably some kind of herbs. Don't look at Elyssia as being so serious; actually, after playing for a long time, she was also quite humorous.
Everyone is like that; as long as they have consciousness, they will be equally hard to understand. So nothing can be predicted, thus evaluating someone's personality cannot be entirely correct.
In her hand was a pestle; she was pounding medicine or making something. Continuously putting in various types of leaves, then pounding again. Her face showed clear cunning.
"Must trap someone."
…
The next morning, the three girls were combing each other's hair. All three had hair long past their buttocks; Elyssia's was even a bit longer.
Suddenly, a miserable cry rang out. Outside, Kazuka was coughing violently; on the ground, a wooden water bottle had fallen. He ran to wash his mouth with water.
"Why is it so spicy?"
That was the mixture Elyssia made; it was many times spicier than chili. She poured it into the water bottle and hoped someone would drink it.
…
It was currently March of the year 7211; the current season was summer.
The whole group was sitting in a treehouse. Kazuka, Aoto, and Takeshi—the three sat at the table. While the three girls sat on the bed.
Kazuka spoke up to start the meeting.
"Currently we have been hiding for a few months, and still haven't seen anyone come looking. How about we go outside."
Takeshi nodded.
"That's right."
Airi: "Difficult, maybe we hid beforehand. That's why they couldn't find us, but the search might still be ongoing."
Kazuka: "Then let's find a dangerous ruin."
Aoto glanced at Kazuka.
"You seem to quite like exploring dangerous ruins, don't you?"
Kazuka: "Quite interested."
Elyssia: "But going together is truly very easy to detect. If fighting in a deserted place then it's hit-or-miss, but if we happen to be detected, it won't be good."
Ayaka: "But even if detected, it's not certain that it's a hunting group of some race; we can still roam to a certain extent."
Airi: "If so, we will let Takeshi go on reconnaissance; go very far and find the most stable place. It could be a small or large village; that would be more reasonable."
"If all six people go together, we will be detected and recognized immediately."
Takeshi: "Let me go instead; if I encounter danger, I'll hide underground to run; Kazuka will have a harder time running than me."
Aoto nodded.
"That's reasonable."
Airi sighed. She also wanted to go, but safety was still above all. So she was quite worried if something happened.
"Then let's decide it like that."
Kazuka was silent; he wanted to go but he knew he didn't have the ability to escape as well as Takeshi, so he had to let Takeshi go.
…
This world outside is very dangerous, but sometimes also safe. Being born with power usually leads to being highly utilized, but if born with nothing, one can only try a hundred times harder.
Talent is something that needs to be tested, like a person born with a very flexible body, dodging and counter-attacking very reasonably, but there are people who do it very clumsily. That is innate talent, but those things can all improve thanks to training, yet there are things that cannot.
Being born with talent is a good thing.
But being born with authority—that is what is special. Just like Ayaka and Takeshi; Takeshi was born and had the authority of the Earth element, while Ayaka didn't have anything at all. This is a very large disadvantage in combat, less flexible when fighting with only one "color," while Takeshi has the Earth element.
Despite that, this is also a good thing. Having authority requires more effort. While Ayaka only needs to focus on one thing, Takeshi has to focus on other things and the Earth element.
That said, overall having authority is still an extremely large advantage. If Takeshi and Ayaka both applied to a citadel and wanted to join the army, surely Takeshi would be chosen.
Fighting in this world is also very intense. There will be no such thing as breathing easily; there are only the lines of thought of the intelligent ones, fast as lightning and analyzing; there is no such thing as emotional reaction.
A lapse and you receive an enemy's attack immediately, and if hit, it will be the time the opponent takes the opportunity to attack continuously, so reflexes are very important.
A simple example: if an ordinary person is walking on the road, suddenly a dog approaches very slowly and appears friendly. Suddenly it opens its mouth and bites at the arm; surely then, there is no such thing as reacting through facial expressions; our brain immediately knows it wants to bite and immediately retracts the hand by reflex while there hasn't been a single thought in the head yet. That is called instinctive reflex, and in this world, it is the same. Everyone's instinctive reflex is like that; one can only get better by training with things that force similar reflexes.
So the whole group always tries to train to become stronger; that is also the reason Kazuka and Takeshi usually don't sit still; they like moving more than sitting still.
…
So Takeshi set out to find a safe place for the whole group to go. And before leaving, Kazuka had told Takeshi that if he could find a dangerous ruin, it would be even better.
Currently, they want freedom very much, but the situation doesn't allow it. For the time being, they will still go, but not do anything too blatant to avoid being exposed; there are many ways to find them, so they can only do everything most discreetly and pray they will not be found.
From the beginning, just by looking, one knows they just want to go everywhere. No matter where it is—country, city, village... all are fine; they simply don't want to stay in one place.
…
Kazuka sat on the top of a treetop and looked into the distance. Lately, quite a few things have happened, making him also forget his previous family; he only hoped that they were safe.
"So boring."
Suddenly Elyssia stepped up and sat next to Kazuka.
"What are you doing? Watching the sky?"
Kazuka turned over; he also didn't know what to say.
"You could say that."
Elyssia smiled, her eyes looking into the distance.
Kazuka suddenly had an impulsive curiosity pop up in his head.
"Going with everyone like this, what do you think?"
Elyssia appeared to reflect for a bit.
"Quite fun, and besides, the only place I can go is with you guys. So I cherish it very much."
Kazuka was a bit surprised when Elyssia spoke quite comfortably.
"I see, so just wandering like this, what do you think?"
Elyssia shook her head: "It's fine, I have never gone anywhere before anyway, so going out to open my eyes is fine too."
Sometimes, finding someone with the same interests as yourself is very difficult. Although they had their own reasons and went together initially, fortunately those reasons were exactly what kept them and went along with everyone. This is truly destiny.
Six people, who didn't know each other, pushed by circumstances to come close, gradually going together without thinking much.
Finding a person with the same interest or something is truly very difficult. But it's not impossible, while this group has up to six people all wanting to explore the outside world, although there are still a few individual parts, looking at the surface, it's visible.
Some are simply because they like it, a promise, circumstances, having no goal, being forced to go along. Yet they have gradually merged into each other without knowing when. When they met, they were truly intelligent, but they were still just kids who had just stepped outside no matter how strong they were. Because they are teenagers, being assimilated into something is truly very easy, but fortunately, it was all good people meeting each other.