MI73: Reflection (Patreon)

With their respective allies forming a loose encirclement around them, obviously prepared to intervene if shit hit the fan, Paul asked, "Just how far do you intend to take this? First to be disarmed, first to give up, or..."

Lowering himself into a reverse drawing stance, Timothy maintained a look of conviction as he declared, "I just want to measure the distance between you and me..."

Punctuating his words, Timothy launched himself forward with enough momentum to kick up a swirl of snow and ice. The essence of the Sword God School was to strike first and end the battle as quickly as possible. Some might consider it cheating to strike in the middle of a conversation, but history was a mouthpiece for the victor. Most people didn't care how a fight was concluded, only who won.

"Little shit..."

Catching Timothy by surprise, Paul didn't immediately draw his sword. Instead, he stepped just outside of Timothy's attack range, the tip of the latter's blade nearly a fine line through his jacket.

"Wha-"

Taking advantage of Timothy's confusion, Paul decked the little kid in the side of the face. To his credit, Timothy managed to react by reversing his grip and swiping towards Paul's wrist, but it ultimately didn't matter. Paul was nowhere near the level of Gal, but he could still use Touki. Something Timothy had yet to grasp fully.

As Timothy was sent reeling by his punch, Paul took a moment to stare at the shallow cut along his forearm. It was a lot slower than when he used his Lesser Regeneration, but he could see the gash slowly mending itself.

Bounding to his feet much sooner than Paul expected, Timothy's speed suddenly increased as he shot forward, shouting, "Draw your sword...!" as he swung his own.

Noticing a faint shimmer along the edge of Timothy's blade, Paul couldn't help muttering, "Little monster." as he dodged backward and released the clasp of his reforged, custom broadsword.

Feeling a chill spread through his body, Timothy sliced upward just as his sweeping lung missed its mark. Doing so allowed him to intercept Paul's sword, but it wasn't enough. Even without using Touki to strengthen his cutting power, Paul was a paragon pushing the limits of the human body. There was also a nearly 30cm difference in their height, so the moment Paul's blade impacted Timothy's, the latter was forced to a knee.

Though surprised, Timothy was undaunted by the difference between his and Paul's strength. The moment his knee hit the ground, he grit his teeth and attempted to sweep towards his opponent's legs. Unfortunately, Paul had anticipated this, sending his sword flying with a parry that resembled a one-handed golf swing.

"Let the great protection of fire arrive at the place thou seekest. I call forth the heat of a torch here and now. Fireball...!"

Worried for her friend's life, Leilah raised her staff and launched a Fireball at Paul. The rest of Party Lion's Head looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but they still leaped into action to try and save their friend's life.

Before things could get too out of hand, Paul cut down the Fireball and shouted, "Stand down...!" in an authoritative tone. The Lion's Head Party believed this was directed at them, pausing in place, but the truth of the matter was that Paul was ordering Ei and Ghislaine not to kill them.

With everyone freezing in place, Paul exhaled a tired sigh before kicking the befuddled Timothy towards his Party and complaining, "Seriously, you people must have a death wish or something. I never intended to kill your friend, so why the fuck are you overreacting?"

Shaking his head, Paul didn't wait for Rolan and the rest to respond before appending, "Forget it. Just grab your stuff and get the hell out of here. I'm tired of looking at your suicidal asses."

Though he had initially intended to offer Timothy some friendly words of advice, Paul's mood was ruined by Leilah's surprise attack. Not because the Fireball was even remotely a threat, but because it had nearly gotten her entire Party wiped out.

Realizing she had made a mistake, Leilah lowered her head with the intent to apologize. However, before she could find the words to do so, Timothy pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the tense atmosphere as he glared at Paul and said, "This isn't over...now that I've experienced your strength, I can tell you're not much faster than me. The next time we fight-"

"Shut the fuck up, kid. Stop acting like I'm some great antagonist or villain for you to overcome. If you want to become a powerful swordsman, that's on you. I have literally done nothing to merit your dumb ass trying to track me down and murder me. Stop acting like a self-righteous little twat."

Taken aback by Paul's words, Timothy opened his mouth but couldn't find the words to argue. He expected a swordsman like Paul to look forward to a future challenge. Instead, the latter's words made it sound as though he was being wronged and inconvenienced for no reason...

What Timothy didn't know was that Paul's desire to become strong was simply that. He wanted to be strong, not so he could harvest people's lives like wheat, but so he could enjoy his life without being suppressed and taken advantage of by others. The last thing he needed was a future Sword Emperor tracking him down and potentially targetting the people he cared about just to prove which of them was the strongest.

Taking advantage of Timothy's stunned silence, Paul added, "Seriously, just think about your actions till now. You accuse me of being a bandit for no fucking reason, attempt to pressure your Party into attacking mine just because you're butthurt, and then try to cripple me during a match where it's evident to everyone I'm going easy on you. It's pretty fucking obvious which one of us is the villain here..."

"..."

Hanging his head, a wave of shame washed over Timothy for maybe the second time in his entire life. He wanted to refute Paul's words, but there wasn't much he could say. Everything Paul said, while brazen and harsh, was the truth. Paul hadn't committed any crimes. He had even gone out of his way to deescalate the situation multiple times. The only thing Timothy could fault him for winking at Leilah, but that wasn't exactly a crime...even if it annoyed him...

Realizing that he had attempted to goad his Party into killing or arresting someone just because they had flirted with his childhood friend, another wave of shame washed over Timothy's mind. He and Leilah weren't even in a relationship. He had confessed to her when they were both children, but she had refused because she wanted to travel around and become a Mage, not waste away in their village. After that, he had trained hard just so he could accompany her, eventually following her to Sharia and joining the Adventurer's Guild to help pay her tuition...

Looking toward Leilah, Timothy's mood diminished even further when he found her staring at Paul with a pensive look on her face. She had come to his aid and even treated his injuries with Healing Magic, but now that things had calmed down, she seemed more concerned about finding the words to apologize to Paul than supporting him.

Returning his gaze to the front, Timothy looked past Paul at the bevy of beautiful women standing behind him. Two of them were so remarkably attractive he couldn't even find the words to describe them. They were looking forward and staring at him, but, a stark contrast to how Leilah was looking at Paul, they didn't seem particularly concerned about him or his Party mates. They were just ready to act the moment things escalated...

Inhaling a deep breath, Timothy attempted to suppress his negative thoughts before meeting Paul's gaze and calmly stating, "I will become stronger...not for anyone else, but to prove to myself I have what it takes to become strong..."

Following his words, Timothy turned away with the intent to go and pick up his fractured sword. Paul's parry had caused nearly a third of the blade to shatter, but it was still usable and could be reforged.

"Hey, kid..."

Catching Timothy and pretty much every member of his Lion's Head by surprise, Paul tossed over a small coin purse, adding, "I'm pretty famous for having a discerning eye. This may sound a little ridiculous after the other things I've said, but I can tell you have a monstrous talent. If you were to travel to the Sword Sanctum and train seriously, I bet you could become a Sword Emperor before you're 25. That should help you prepare for the journey and then some."

Peeling open the coin purse, Timothy was stunned to find ten Asura Gold Coins within. It wasn't exactly a fortune, but it was more than enough to cover Leilah's tuition and upgrade his equipment. His current sword and outfit had only cost him around six Asura Silver Coins, ten of which made a single Asura Gold Coin.

Clenching his fist around the bag of coins, a resolute expression appeared on Timothy's youthful face as he said, "I will never forget the lessons you have taught me this day..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Paul said, "I'll be happy so long as you don't go around causing trouble for myself and others. If you do manage to reach the Rank of Sword Emperor, feel free to seek me out. I have no intention of fighting you to the death, but I can at least buy you a drink."

Realizing he had severely misjudged Paul's character, a frustratingly sour feeling began to spread through Timothy's nose. Fortunately, it was well below freezing, so pretty much everyone's eyes were watering...

...

..

.

"Was that boy someone you recognized...?"

After refusing Lion's Head's offer for an escort, Paul returned to pulling his overburdened cart while Eula and Ei walked alongside him. Ghislaine was keeping an eye on Lion's Head, so Paul had no qualms about responding to Eula's question, explaining, "Yeah. Unless something drastic happens in the interim, Timothy is fated to become the father of the next Sword God, Jino Britts. I doubt he'll become an ally in the future, but investing 10AGC to prevent him from becoming an enemy seemed like a smart decision..."

Understanding that Paul didn't have the heart to kill people he 'knew', Eula just nodded her head before asking, "And what of the girl? What part does she play in all of this...?"

Shrugging his shoulders despite the burden his arms were supporting, Paul answered, "No clue. I can't recall anyone named Leilah, and unless I'm misremembering things, I'm relatively certain that Timothy ends up with the current Sword God's younger sister. I don't know her name, but I doubt the younger sister of the Sword God is a relatively average Mage." 

"Mmm...I see...I thought you may have been flirting with her because she was someone important..."

Slowing his pace a bit, Paul looked towards Eula with a slightly amused look on his face as he asked, "Could my little thigh goddess be jealous...?"

Furrowing her brows, Eula stated, "You know I don't like it when you call me that. Also, what reason could I have to be jealous? I'm just concerned about everyone else, that's all..."

Having learned to speak Eula's language, Paul maintained his moderately cheeky smile as he said, "I was just teasing her since I caught her staring at my abs. Besides, with amazing women like you around, I'm not exactly hurting for companionship. There are bound to be a few exceptions, sure, but I'm ultimately loyal to our cause...in fact, if it bothers you that much, I don't mind swearing off women outside the IOF..."

Exhaling a sigh, Eula replied with a terse, "That's unnecessary..." before shifting her eyes skyward and muttering, "How you choose to live is up to you. We're already being selfish by thrusting the fate of our world on your shoulders...I dare not-"

"I've said this before, but I'll repeat it a thousand times if I have to. I've already made my decision, Eula. I'm not just living for myself, but for all of us. If you're not happy about something, you have every right to express it. I may not be able to change immediately, but you've all seen how much of an effort I'm willing to make..."

Though he would be lying if he said he didn't want to bed certain women, most of the people Paul was interested in from the original series weren't even born yet. Since he wasn't a pedo, that meant most of them were off-limits. More importantly, even Ghislaine couldn't hold a candle to the girls he had summoned from the IOF, so if someone as dutiful as Eula were to put her foot down, Paul wouldn't mind forgoing sexual relations with other women. He was already one of the luckiest people in the world just being able to use her thighs and ass as a pillow...

Seeing the sincerity in Paul's eyes, a rare smile developed across Eula's face as she softly replied, "I'll keep that in mind..."

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