The Book Of Flowers

Preparation of Remina

-- A few moments after that ---

"Urgh-h! Ehek ehek-!!!"

Uh...

"Compose your food properly and don't drop your tears in it..."

"I couldn't even hit Veskal since then--"

He ignored me completely...

And yes. She was crying for that reason

I wonder how he is 15 years old now and can still act like a boy. Especially considering something he told us yesterday

"By the way, why don't you help Remina just to hit her?"

"No way!! I'm willing-Try to beat him up even if occasionally-!!"

Forget about Veskal first. You can't even touch me even with Remina

We are both more experienced in fighting than he is. Plus, this one brat was somehow able to learn the abilities of the Moon Elves very well

"The stolen technique I got from Zaphir's movement turned out to be useful for disrupting Veri~!" Veskal then said, tucking in some laughter afterwards

It certainly makes Verdea increasingly chew salad given Ordelia very aggressively as if to tear the lettuce leaves into small pieces like a crocodile

I took a sip of my tea which Ordelia filled back with with a flat face, trying to ignore the mess on the garden table

"But your development has been good enough" Ordelia commented. "At least you didn't get hit too often by our root attacks during the fight"

"Still exposed!" Verdea grumbled with her mouth full. "If we were in a real fight again, I would definitely be the one to die first--!"

"If, there aren't 10 people at once who keep your position always" Remina replied

Oh, the Great Tree...

"We have a problem, fish ******..." Verdea replied with a stiff face

"What do you call me??!" Remina slammed her hand on the table so it shook

It's your fault, Remina. You should know better than to be sarcastic in front of Verdea

Everyone can guess what they are doing after—licked their tongues so that the atmosphere was crisp that they forgot the salad they were eating

"Forget about them. I want to go find Zaphir now" Veskal whispered to me

"No. Zaphir right now must be on duty, so you better not bother"

"Thank you for a gift from a king of hers, right?"

Wah wah~?

He replied to my words hm?

"Then... What about Natasha?"

...

...

...

"He's fine. Mrs Silver had taken good care of her, but she was still unconscious"

Probably because he was too depressed that day

Veskal immediately looked weak to hear that, so that the two children who daritadi clash the mouth began to remain silent and so focused

"You can see him, no one will forbid"

That also astonished me

After that day, Veskal would always return my offer with, "No. I don't need to see him". Somehow he insisted on not seeing the condition of his own friend

I consider Natasha an enemy, of course. But the bond between him and Veskal that has been made since childhood is not possible to be cut off just like that, right?

After all, I was always sad when I saw him moody like this. It was as if he wanted to visit Natasha, but still could not forgive her

...

Forget that

I clapped my hands once to draw all of them to their attention

"We should do an evaluation. We can discuss Natasha for another day, especially when she's conscious" I said

The tone they all let out then sounded quite messy, as if their heads were still unable to process my words

"Do you think my abilities are enough to handle all those tests later?" Remina began to ask

Enough, he said...?

His answers...

"Yes. Your abilities are enough"

But

"-- It's just, you have to stop holding back. I know you don't want to hurt Verdea either, but it's best to think about dealing with your enemies first. If the danger goes away, everyone will be safe, right?"

Remina's mouth was open in surprise. "I don't-!" he said, but stopped in the middle

His face began to turn red, as Verdea looked pouting at the information. The other one blushed from being discovered, and the other one was not happy about getting the information

"I wonder where she got that habit after all the things that happened~?" Veskal interrupted

"Me and him are different. If I bring out my full strength, Xiang's underground area that day will be your grave"

Take that as an example

Veskal immediately shuddered and could not comment hearing that—well understood that I could not lie

I'm still learning about self-restraint. I mean, Cyrus and Zaphir said that I was too strong, to the point of being unreasonable

And what I mean by learning is that, since I don't usually fight, I don't know how much power I have to exert against a particular opponent. I will only realize it if my opponent has injured me first. Since restraint has become my body language, I have always used weak strength first

Zaphir even said that I was terrible at attacking...

"I'm just suggesting, so you should use your full strength to fight Lyralia later. Once you doubt, he'll pull you over until you give up" I said again

"Huh? Until surrender?"

"Until surrender. Just assume... He likes to play food on his plate"

I've warned that Lyralia has a sadistic tendency towards her opponent. Especially if he knew very well that his opponent was weaker or he could handle it easily

If Remina could pull him into a more serious terrain, my one friend would be overwhelmed and forced seriously as well

If you want to lose, it should be done with honor, right?

"That's it..."

He seems doubtful, doesn't he...?

Well, at least he'll always find a way. I can't give him any advice, because I can defeat Lyralia just by making a whirlpool

I'm too strong for all five of my friends to handle, except for Luna. That one person actually moved like a demon while fighting

"That's very helpful. Thank you, Oberon"

I hope you're lucky too, son. Your potential is huge, but you still have to go through this test fairly

"Ah. Veri, Veskal.." I turned to those two guys.

Both of them also look more than ready in thrusting their ears at me—listen well to my words

"You may have to go to Hortensia first. Frightened, Frank was overwhelmed" I said. "After all, the legal owner of that county district is you, right, Veri?"

Verdea recalled her grandfather before he had the chance to grumble because he did not want to. To be sure, I only knew that he did not want to deal with those nobles alone

"Only 3 days. I'll just look at some of the documents that Rosalia's brother suggested, finish them, then leave after spending time with grandfather" she replied

"I'm sure hunting with your grandfather won't be boring either" Veskal interjected

"My grandfather can hunt?"

"Me and him once accompanied Ivor to the market. And when he saw a hunting tool shop, his mouth couldn't stop discussing every usefulness of his tool"

"I didn't know that...?"

Veskal also shrugged as the corners of his lips were raised

"But don't kill too much okay?" this time I interrupted. "You also have to be careful with the monsters that are still roaming around. I'm sure that's why hunting in the woods is no longer popular in Hortensia"

"Where do you know?"

"The nobility and common people of Hortensia love to hunt, Veskal. But I faintly heard at the dance that they hoped the hunt would reopen after 5 years of being put down for safety reasons"

"My family never took me hunting. Only Collin's older brother ever came to Thyme castle to give me a little gift hunting my father first and discuss about it" Verdea added. "The deer meat was also a bit too big for me to call a little..."

"You humans love to hunt?" Remina followed the conversation. "I mean, we Elves even live with ordinary or mystical animals—"

Well, he's not wrong. That's one of the reasons our people don't like to eat meat. It reminds us that animals have to die to get it. Animals that live with us in peace

The Gaia Elf Clan was even bestowed with the power to understand each other's emotions with animals, as they had no voice in their minds. We certainly refuse to eat meat, no matter how hard we are forced

"Unfortunately Remina, we also need meat as food to live. That's the only explanation I can give" Veskal explained, given additional confirmation by Verdea

"It is unfortunate..." Remina also took her breath. "If there were a way for you not to eat meat"

Actually exist. But for these two?

Huh! I'd laugh if they would at least eat tomatoes on their plates

"You'd better focus on your preparation"

Also

"And about the second test later..."

My index finger moved as if it was calling to him. He was stunned, but then followed my cue and approached

Ordelia just laughed a little because she knew what she was going to do to Remina

After all, the second test was indeed the easiest among all his tests

"To find Leshy, you just need to..."

I whispered into his ear and he listened carefully. Till...

His face was incredulous

"That's it...?"

"Easy it is"

But don't tell him I told you, okay?