Mystical Fencer

Giant frogs were stronger and more dangerous than the mutated wolves. They attacked with their tongues that were filled with paralytic toxin. Just one lick was enough to paralyze a grown person. In addition to that they were able to call for help. If cornered they would make a weird loud sound and each and every giant frog that could hear it would come running.

This meant that we needed to strike fast and hard. Luckily, they were not very intelligent and were very greedy, this meant that they did everything they could to hunt you alone before they called for backup, because they really wanted to eat you alone. Considering this, I formed a strategy, I charged in on one of the frogs, it started attacking me with its tongue while both Rina and Elizabeth readied themselves for synchronized strike.

I was able to dodge the tongue attacks relatively easily thanks to my aura slowing down the frog and making me move faster.

Several seconds later both women attacked at the same time. Rina popped out of the frog's shadow and buried both of her blades into the back of the frog's neck. At the same time Elizabeth released two pale blue spears towards the frog, impaling it thoroughly. After this, the frog fell down to the ground dead.

Like this we proceeded to kill all the frogs guarding the pond. Once all of them were down I led the group towards the pond. At first glance it looked like normal small pond without anything special about it. But I knew what to look for and I soon found it. I quickly pointed towards a man-sized hole hidden in between the rocks at the bottom of the pond as I spoke.

"There is a hole! And it is big enough to swim through."

Yuki was first one to react. "Yes, it looks like that. Do you want to go check it out?"

I nodded quickly. "I would love to!"

She nodded back as she spoke. "But be careful, don't go further than half of your oxygen. If you find nothing until then turn back!"

"I promise!"

I answered as I jumped into the pond and quickly swam into the hole. I knew exactly what I was getting into so I was very calm. Getting through the small underground tunnel took me about two minutes after which I emerged in a small cavern without any visible access to outside world, not counting the small tunnel I came out of.

I quickly grabbed small portable magic formation that lighted up the whole cavern from my inventory. Once I did that, I saw exactly what I came here for. Two chests made out of dark wood decorated with gold. Even hinges looked to be golden. I quickly placed both into my inventory together with portable formation I used to light up the room. I took a deep breath and dived back to the water, swimming back the way I came.

As I emerged from the pond girls where visibly worried about me. Both Rina and Yuki threw herself at me and started to make sure I was fine. I was able to speak only several minutes later.

"I found something in there! There were two chests inside!"

As I finished the sentence, I placed them in the middle of us so that everybody could see. Everybody got surprised seeing the loot, first one to speak was Yuki.

"These are good, very good. Do you see all the gold on them? These are one-time chests. There is going to be good stuff in them. Open them quickly I want to see!"

I chuckled and opened one of them. Inside I found some gold and jewelry together with a beautiful Jian. This Jian was the reason I chose this location. It was a sword I wanted.

The sword had silver handle and sheathe. The guard was fashioned to look like two eastern dragon heads looking away from the sword. Once I unsheathed the blade, I could see runes all over it from both sides. Runes on this blade made together an enhancement that sounded rather simple but was really strong. It magnified all non-physical damage dealt by the sword.

I showed the blade to everyone and after they congratulated me, I stashed the chest filled with jewelry into my inventory together with the sword.

I proceeded to open second chest that once again contained pile of gold and jewelry, outside of that there was a magical necklace. I quickly threw it to Elizabeth, speaking as I did that.

"It lowers casting time of spells. You are the only one that can actually properly use it, so enjoy!'

She smiled at me and spoke. "Thank you very much!"

"It's fine! Don't sweat it!"

I answered as I stashed away the second chest. After this we quickly completed the mapping of the sector. We met several more frogs and a number of wolves, but outside of that there was nothing else.

We returned to the guild after that, we handed over the recording device to the receptionist. She looked into the recorded content and then looked at us with surprised look.

"Did lady Sazanukachi help you deal with the frogs?"

Before I could speak Yuki answered. "I did no such thing; my students are strong enough to handle few frogs."

Shock was visible on the face of the receptionist as she spoke. "U-understood!"

After this the receptionist quickly handled our quest and paid us out without any further comments. We had a nice dinner in nearby tavern during which Elizabeth surprised us when she asked.

"Yuki can you also train me?"

Yuki chuckled. "Well, I am not cheap!"

I looked at Yuki and asked curiosly. "Aren't you already getting paid for training me and Rina? Would it be so big of a difference to add also Elizabeth?"

Yuki smiled as she answered. "I stopped taking money for training you two long time ago. I did so the moment I realized I am interested in you!"

I almost choked listening to her. I quickly regained my composure and answered.

"My apologies Yuki, I didn't know about that, and also thank you for that. I really appreciate your company!"

She smiled and nodded gently to me, then she turned back to Elizabeth.

"I have no issue with you being in our party don't get me wrong, that's perfectly fine. But training you is totally different matter."

To my surprise Elizabeth remained calm as she spoke.

"I will ask my father to contact you and make a deal about that. Would that be ok with you?"

Yuki nodded slowly with a smile. "There is no problem there. But you should know that I am willing to help but my priority will always be Vic. I will tell your father the same."

"Understandable!" Spoke Elizabeth and we dropped the topic and chatted about random stuff for the rest of the dinner.

Once we finished our dinner, we said good bye to Elizabeth and went our separate ways for the day. As soon as we arrived in the mansion, I was stopped by Sebastian that had a message from my father for me.

"Your father asked me to let you know that he is expecting you in his study! Please go see him right away!"

I froze for a moment and asked. "Did something happen?"

Sebastian shook his head. "Not that I am aware of. Duke seemed to be in both good mood and good health when he told me this."

I sighed in relief spoke. "Rina, Yuki I am going to see my father!"

Both nodded and waved at me as I walked towards father's study. I arrived in front of the door shortly, I knocked a few times and waited for his response.

"It's you Vic?" My father asked from inside.

"Yes father, you called me?"

"Come in, son!"

I entered the room and father motioned me to sit down. Once I was seated, he asked me, almost looking nervous.

"Before we start with serious matters, do you want tea, coffee or wine?"

I shook my head. "I had tea in the tavern while we ate dinner. I don't drink coffee or wine. So, nothing or just water is fine!"

Father nodded and poured me a cup of water. Then he placed it in front of me and spoke.

"I need to handle two things with you. First, how far did you get with Rina and Yuki? Did you go all the way?"

I froze but looking at the serious expression on father's face I sighed and just answered.

"Not far at all. We pretty much did just what you saw. We know that we are interested in each other but we are not really rushing it."

Father nodded. "Good. In case you would want to start a serious relationship with them they would have to sign some papers since they are not nobles." Anger flared inside of me hearing this and I was about to explode when my father rose his hand signaling for me to let him finish. "I know what you think, but let me finish. It's nothing bad or harmful, it's honestly for their own good. It makes them officially your fiancées and your future second and third wife. This ensures that nobles wanting to get you to marry their daughters won't see them as threats. And also grants them some status and protection. Look Yuki is our national treasure and Rina is about to become one, last thing I want is to harm them. I just want to make sure that nobles won't start targeting them."

I calmed down a little and spoke. "I will let them know. But let me tell you, if it would make them sad or if they are going to have any other issues with it, I am not going to ask them to sign it!"