Chapter 342 342 – Race And Memories
"Good morning, Sir Arthur. I have woken up first and left for the Holy City for an urgent matter. I am truly sorry for not being there when you woke up, but I don\'t want to wake you up because I saw that you looked tired.
"Last night was wonderful. I truly loved it. Also, the primordial Succubus also returned to the Capital City to continue her duty; she left that message to me. There should be breakfast prepared for you if you call one of the nuns, or you can always eat in the dining hall.
"I hope you have a wonderful morning. Love, Sana Castitas."
After reading the letter, I folded it neatly and put it inside my inventory. It was the first time I got a letter like that after waking up, and the content was quite sweet.
"She\'s really cute and caring," I muttered and stood up from the couch.
While I was at it, I planned to follow Sana\'s suggestion and have breakfast in the dining hall. The time was also perfect. The clock on the wall showed that it was almost seven, the perfect time to have breakfast as the church knights just finished their training.
Tomorrow was the party day. I wanted to see Tristan\'s reaction to this. Would she be prepared or get shy and then hide her feelings again? If so, then I was looking forward to her tsundere act.
I had to go down the first floor and walk to another building near the training ground to reach the dining hall. Due to my casual clothes accentuating my muscles, many nuns blushed and averted their eyes shyly when I greeted them with a smile.
The dining hall was filled with female knights as it was now the male church knights\' turn to patrol the Academy City and the area outside the wall.
Of course, I decided to visit the dining hall after watching the time because I didn\'t want to smell the sweat of burly men in the dining hall.
Because of a certain person, all the female knights were acting strangely around me now. They always blushed and flustered each time I appeared before them.
Lea and Natasha were no exception. Both of them seemed to be \'invited\' to clean what Sophia and I left in that dressing room.
Just as usual, my knight squad gathered at the corner of the dining room. They weren\'t isolated. Rather, they were given the best place with the best table that was close to where the food was located.
They already noticed my presence because the dining hall went quiet as soon as I showed up. Tristan looked at me with a toothy grin and stood up. Somehow, I had a bad feeling when I saw that. She approached me with a speed that put the fastest runner to shame and pulled my hand.
"Come with me!"
Confused, I looked at Tristan, who was drenched in sweat. Her elf tunic hugged her body tightly, showing the skin underneath.
However, I didn\'t pull my hand away and only followed her.
With all my skills and senses heightened, the last thing I enjoyed was a surprise I didn\'t know yet. It made my heart beat a little faster, and I was looking forward to it.
"Where are we going?" I asked with a hint of excitement.
"A secret," Tristan smirked at me. Her playfulness took over and made her not embarrassed again. "Just follow me. We are going outside."
With that, the blonde tsundere released my hand, activated <Haste>, and ran faster. I also increased my speed to catch up to her. <Haste> only increased a few percent of her AGI depending on the skill Lv. Even if she used Lv 10 <Haste> that doubled her AGI, it would still be lower than mine.
The direction we took was outside Academy City. We jumped around the roof toward the nearest gate, often used by the church knights when they were exterminating monsters.
I was right beside her, noticing her happy smile.
"What actually happened?" My voice carried curiosity as to why this girl wasn\'t that nervous even though tomorrow was the promised time and looked really happy instead.
Knowing her personality well, I knew that she would be restless until it was over. That was why this situation was pretty strange.
"I found something interesting," Tristan replied with a mischievous smirk. "You will probably like this."
Her excitement was clear in her voice.
"I will increase my speed again. <Blessing of Sylph>."
A gust of wind appeared behind her and propelled forward. She was even faster than her previous speed due to the enhancement from the wind fairy, a Lv 7 skill. Her AGI was probably around 210 after using both skills.
And looking at her current mood, I knew that she tried to race me and challenged me to catch up to her. This happened a lot in the past, and no need to mention it; I always lost.
However… It would be different now.
Stopping for a second on a chimney, I looked at Tristan, who began to run upward the tall wall and defied gravity. It could be done as she could use <Float> derived from Lv 4 <Wind Magic>. It was a weaker version from <Fly>.
"That\'s cheating," I muttered. My lips curled up into a smirk as I crouched, trying to gather momentum and be soft enough not to destroy anything.
After I was sure that I controlled my strength correctly, I jumped. "Hap!"
The chimney I kicked didn\'t survive after all. It crumbled into pieces, and I quickly scattered some Gold Coins toward the hole I created as my body soared into the air.
"Sorry!" I shouted at the people who were watching me from the ground. They looked like a dot on the ground from where I was, higher than even the wall, but I could see them pointing their finger at me with astonishment.
Tristan, who arrived atop the wall, looked at me with a dropped jaw, "That\'s cheating!!" She screamed loudly as I passed her and landed on the grass field.
Bam!
The dust was kicked in as a small crater was created under me. The grass was flying in the air, scattering the area with dirt.
"Oops… I need to fix this later." I muttered, scratching the back of my head.
Racing with Tristan took me to the nostalgic past that made me return to how I was before, childish and only looking for something fun to forget about the depression and trauma accumulated from watching my former comrade die one after another.
Now that it dawned on me, I also remembered that Tristan also had a similar habit.
"Hey, Arthur!"
I looked at the owner of the voice, who ran toward me, still in her wet elf tunic. Her hair fluttered in the air, and her figure looked beautiful even with her bloated cheek. She stopped in front of the crater and narrowed her eyes.
"I was the one who pulled you, but why were you going ahead of me?" Tristan complained.
"I just remembered our race and accidentally went all out. So, did I win this time?"
"…" She looked at me in disbelief, but her face soon turned red. "Well, I guess you won."
Handling Tristan was so easy. I smiled and climbed up the crater, standing beside her.
"So, what did you want to show?" I asked with an urging tone.
Instantly, her smug expression returned as she puffed her chest, which wasn\'t flat any more thanks to the potion I gave her.
"Fufufu, look and behold. <Fairy\'s Banquet>"
As soon as she recited her skill, she raised both arms into the air. A mesmerizing spectacle unfurled before my very eyes.
Four small Fairies with butterfly wings and bodies made from light appeared from her palms. They were different in colors, corresponding to the <Four Elemental Magic> Tristan had.
They began to fly around the girl, dancing happily while humming a happy tone. A second later, another set of four Fairies appeared, and they danced around me this time.
With each graceful movement, they seemed to be having fun creating wonder and beauty that held me captive. Tristan\'s image right now looked like that of a Queen of Fairy, a legendary NPC I met once in Horizon Online.
At that moment, I understood the skill that Tristan activated and the source of her joy.
"You managed to learn it," I said, smiling happily at my girlfriend\'s achievement.
"Yes!" She exclaimed happily with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. "My <Four Elemental Magic> finally reached Lv 8! I can finally see these Fairies!"
"Arthur, I… I succeeded."
Tears dripped from the corner of her eyes, but she kept her smile wide as the Fairies danced around her.
At the same time, this joy also brought a memory—a painful memory of the past. That day, I didn\'t only lose Tristan but also another member of my guild.
That was why she began to cry, stumbling upon me, and screamed loudly into my chest. "But I was too late… Sorry… I am sorry…"
"It\'s not your fault." I pulled her close and caressed her hair, "We are living in this world now. So let\'s bury every painful memory of the past deep inside us. We won\'t forget, but we can hide it. But for now… Just cry as you please."
"Waaa–!"
Her arms were wrapped around my back tightly as her tears covered my clothes.
But that wasn\'t important at all. Tristan was more important.
We were but two broken people in the world where people couldn\'t really understand what trauma was and had high sexual drive.
This world was perfect for people like us to recover. I was glad and felt like I made the right choice back then.
Because if I had decided just to kill myself and return to Earth on the first day, I might not be able to hold and console this broken girl at this time.
So I was truly happy with my decision to remain in Sins Paradise, where we could forget the past by indulging ourselves in Sins.
It was truly a paradise.