Chapter 42: Practical and Pretty

Chapter 42: Practical and Pretty

Bran’s premonition did not come true. The hunt went smoothly. At least, there was no major chaos. This ruined Bran’s dream of saving the day. He was also a bit angry at those knights. Why did they have such strong organizational skills? They didn’t even manage to get a few killed. The lack of expected excitement made Bran feel very bored.

Bran was summing up the gains and losses of the hunt.

Little Dragon Boy Aiman’s expression was a bit strange. Bran always felt like Aiman was grinding his teeth at him.

The idle people whose dogs were killed reacted enthusiastically. They showed no resentment or other unhappy feelings. Instead, they acted like cheering for the winner after a beast fight. This made Bran have the urge to greet their ancestors. Because he realized he had lowered himself to fight a dog, he felt a bit sulky.

Eileen pestered him along the way, constantly asking how to make the spear’s afterimage look prettier. Bran was too lazy to answer such a stupid act that was prepared to risk life for beauty. That light and shadow were because of the weapon. And according to the tradition of the Northlands, the little girl basically had no hope. Weapons from the Northlands rarely fell into outsiders’ hands, especially those in Dragon Riders’ hands, for fear of facing them in the future.

Zoya was much better. Under the gaze of many onlookers, she rode a little horse over to ask how he was. But right behind her, her brother’s face seemed even darker.

…

Bran looked at the two fully armored Little Dragon Riders in front of him. He couldn’t help but secretly give a thumbs up. Clothes make the man, and a saddle makes the horse. The problem was, they had been busy with the hunt all day yesterday. Why didn’t they find a place to rest? Why come to him looking for a handout?

The Little Dragon Riders signaled for Zoya to leave for a while. But because her happy sharing with her best friend about yesterday’s hunt was interrupted, the little girl was very unhappy. Thinking about how these two Little Dragon Riders had been harassing her best friend these past few days, the little girl decided to ignore them. Besides, we are guests here. Without any indication from the host, how could you be so rude? So Little Zoya ignored them.

Seeing that Zoya did not leave, Little Dragon Boy also ignored her and spoke: “We challenge you.”

Little Dragon Girl added: “With your knife. I want to see that knife light.”

Bran really wanted to say some classic lines. For example, everyone who has seen this knife light is lying down. But he knew his own business. Without some sneaky tricks, just relying on the thing in his hand, he really wasn’t a match for the two in front of him. A boxer in a boxing ring could make a fencing champion search for his teeth on the floor. But if they changed to an open field and let the sword player have a foil, he would probably poke the boxer full of holes. He had only led the kids into an unfamiliar environment and caught them off guard before they could react. Now they were carefully prepared to fight in their own way. If he got hit, how painful would it be to just break the skin!

His knife was fast, but it couldn’t cut gold or sever iron yet. It wasn’t the knife’s problem; it was the problem of personal strength. Equipment could indeed improve a person’s combat power, but the combat power bonus was based on personal strength, especially under cold weapon conditions. The most fundamental reason was still his small body that couldn’t stand on stage. Now he was filled with deep resentment towards his small body.

Bran was weighing the pros and cons in his mind. Luckily, his idiot characteristic was not talking to people, so his fear didn’t show for a while.

…

Bran felt a bit sorry for Zoya. He originally planned to stall for more time, so that later, even if the little girl knew her best friend wasn’t too stupid, she would already be far away from the Northlands. By then, some things should be pretty good memories. What was coming would always come. It was meaningless to keep playing dumb.

He looked at Zoya and said: “Sorry.”

“Sorry?” Zoya couldn’t react for a moment.

Bran looked at the gleeful expressions of this pair of Little Dragon Riders and couldn’t help but show a bitter smile.

Then he straightened up and asked seriously: “You want to challenge us?”

The Little Dragon Riders answered with excitement and seriousness: “Yes.”

Bran looked serious and confirmed again: “Thought about it? No regrets?”

The Little Dragon Riders nodded firmly.

Having received confirmation, Bran began to take a deep breath, so deep that his whole chest puffed up high. Then he craned his neck and roared. Afterwards, a voice echoed throughout the manor: “Sister! Someone wants to fight us, hit them!”

…

In the Training Ground, Lily leaned on a blunt double-handed thick-backed big knife. She looked at the pair of Little Dragon Riders outside the field. The excitement of it finally being her turn filled her whole body.

Bran pulled the little girl Zoya, who was half-resisting and didn’t run away. He persuaded with his mouth: “What’s there to be shy about between best friends? It’s fine. My mom raised me as a girl since I was little, so I’m a bit quiet and don’t like to talk much.”

Zoya felt a bit aggrieved…

“Where did we leave off last time?” Bran continued to comfort her.

Zhuoma finally couldn’t take it anymore. But after hearing Bran’s words, she seemed to notice something. Some of Bran’s behaviors really didn’t seem like a man’s. So she said: “Even if you are not much of a man, you still can’t be pulling and tugging with my sister.”

Before Bran could react, Zoya raised an eyebrow and glared at her own brother: “Who asked you to interfere?”

Bran followed up backing her: “Yeah, it’s our business as best friends. Who asked you to interfere?”

Zhuoma felt stifled. Fine, I won’t interfere…

On the other side, the two Little Dragon Riders discussed quietly: “This match, you go. You must defeat her. I’m here to see Bran’s knife light.”

“You! That’s a female. You should go.” Little Dragon Boy felt like he was going crazy. Since returning from the hunt yesterday, his own sister had been urging him to challenge. How did he agree?

“No, I’m here to see the knife light. Are you afraid of a woman?”

“That’s a female!”

“Isn’t that perfect? Quickly defeat her. Then Bran will be left to me. Don’t worry, he can’t hurt me. That knife light is really pretty.”

Little Dragon Boy entered the Training Ground indignantly. Holding a double-handed great sword, he assumed a stance. He shouted discontentedly: “I’ll give you the first move. You go first.”

Bran couldn’t help but secretly admire him. Such good manners! He also gave a thumbs up to the impatient Little Dragon Girl. Your brother is going to be badly tricked by you. My sister, she is also a Wizard. But her ability is to strengthen herself, so it doesn’t show and isn’t easy to detect. Probably his sister still thought she was naturally gifted and hadn’t realized it was because of her ability.

Bran watched his sister stride towards Little Dragon Boy, dragging the knife with one hand. There was no imposing manner, no fierce glare. There was only the focus of a little kid seeing a beautiful butterfly, wanting to help decorate it to make it even prettier. Of course, the decorating method wasn’t usually good, and the result wasn’t great either. Most of the time, the wings got pulled off. Then the butterfly without wings was no longer pretty, and the little kid lost interest…

Little Dragon Boy was currently that pretty, very beautiful butterfly. Bran watched his sister. Her steps gradually adjusted and sped up. She slightly bent down, then her body unfolded, driving the knife blade from bottom to top, sweeping out diagonally. She presented the use of strength simply and directly in front of everyone’s eyes. There was no fancy trickery. Between the contraction and expansion of her body’s curves, the beauty of strength was displayed to the fullest on a young girl’s body.

Little Dragon Boy, who was already flying through the air, had his mouth half open. His mind kept replaying the image of that girl swinging her knife. He felt that in that instant, that figure was dazzlingly beautiful, beautiful enough to make one’s heart flutter. At least his sister said one thing right, “Really pretty!”

Then, Aiman, at a speed that left everyone dumbfounded, after being knocked down by a knife slash, scrambled up and shouted: “Good! Again!”