Tensei Shite Inaka de Slowlife wo Okuritai - Chapter 230

Elna-kaasan’s Real Ability

Eleonora-neesan and Elna-kaasan are facing each other with a distance of about 10 meters between them in the grassland. 

We – the men’s camp – are watching them with a worried look on our faces.

Eleonora-neesan is wearing her usual training clothes, gripping a wooden sword in the palm of her hand.

Facing her, Elna-kaasan is wearing a one-piece and holding a long cane as tall as she is.

I wonder if it was made using monster material and some ores? I don’t know about the wood’s quality as it has elegant outlines in appearance and shape, also a large crystal at the top portion.

 
It probably uses something like a monster magic stone enabling the user to increase the efficiency and enhance the user’s magic power. That’s why the magician in this world is using a cane.

But since I have a lot of magic power, and I don’t usually cast magic quickly and continuously, I don’t have them. 

However, when I see Elna-kaasan holding her cane like that, I think I want to have one cool cane.

「It’s the first time I saw kaasan wielding a cane」

「You’re right」

I can only agree and nodded since I had the exact same thoughts as Sylvio-niisan’s remark.

「It’s also been a while since Nord-tousan see Elna-kaasan wielding her cane, right?」

「Yeah. Nowadays, Elna hadn’t had the chance to use magic seriously. Though I said that, she is only using it to use staff technique this time」

Nord-tousan answers with a somewhat faraway look in his eyes when I ask.

He’s probably recalling past events.

I guess Nord-tousan finally responds to my expectation as I keep silent and waited, thinking that it would be a chance to hear about Elna-kaasan’s valuable past, he says – while smiling wryly-,

「Even when she retired as an adventurer, and before Al and Sylvio were born, she used to wield the cane quite skillfully you know? For example, back when we arrived in this territory, there are a lot of ferocious monsters and a few bandits group scattered around. Together with Elna, we did our best to make the territory comfortable to live in」

「Eeeh?! There were ferocious monsters in the village!?」

「There’s also bandits!?」

I and Sylvio-niisan raised our voices in surprise after hearing Nord-tousan’s account.

「Of course there was. The Slowlett territory is located at the edge of the Kingdom, and few people were living here. There were a lot of monsters and bandits back then」

Perhaps he thought our reactions were interesting that Nord-tousan chuckled as he continue to explain.

Speaking of the area around Slowlett territory, there are hardly any ferocious monsters now. I thought that it was this kind of place from the beginning, so it was apparently not.

「There are a lot of monsters here in the past」

「So the reason we can have peaceful lives right now is due to tousan and kaasan’s hard work back then, huh」

「Ahaha, thank you」, Nord-tousan said with a laugh that give off a strained feeling as I and Sylvio-niisan said our thanks to him. 

 
I wonder why? I feel like Nord-tousan’s current expression feels the same as when he was being praised by the nobles in the capital for his Dragon Slayer’s heroic act.

Like, he’s happy being praised, but actually, there are some real circumstances and past at that time that was embarrassing so he honestly can’t feel happy about it. I feel like there are such circumstances.

「Say, Nord-tousan. Can you tell us about that story again in detail――」

「Look, they are about to begin!」

Nord-tousan shouted when I was trying to find out more about the past as if he was trying to cover up my question.

So there was something, huh? My intuition told me that I will be able to find out something interesting if I were to dig around there.

But, he probably won’t tell me even if I ask. Let’s find some information about it when I have the chance to do so. There may be books in the mansion about the origin of this village or something, or maybe the village chief might know about some old stories.

Gaining new things to look forward to, I returned my consciousness to the two women as Nord-tousan says.

「……kaasan, you are not going to change your clothes?」

「Right, I’m fine wearing this. Rather, I don’t have any training clothes」

Elna-kaasan is currently wearing plain clothes. She doesn’t wear a cardigan, but still, you can say that she’s wearing unsuitable clothes for the training.

「That’s fine with me, but don’t get upset if your clothes got dirtied okay?」

「It’s alright, you don’t have to worry about it」

「…………」

Elna-kaasan answered Eleonora-neesan’s remark while smiling calmly.

’My clothes won’t get dirtied if I were to fight against someone on the level of Eleonora’. That’s probably the meaning of her words. 

This makes the cursing between me and Torr looks cute. As always, women’s verbal exchange is scary since they calmly mix poison in their words.

「S, so then are the both of you ready!?」

Maybe she couldn’t bear the tense atmosphere between them. As Mina – the person responsible to give the signal to start – shouted in a high-pitched voice.

「Yes, I’m ready」

「I’m also ready」

Eleonora-neesan assumes a stance with her sword in front, while Elna-kaasan doesn’t assume any stance. She was just standing while holding her cane in her right hand.

Even while having a puzzled expression on her face after seeing that, Eleonora-neesan change her expression to a serious one, as she might decide not to worry about that.

「Will Elna-kaasan really be okay? I think now is the time if you want to stop them…….」

As expected, this makes me worry about her since I usually experienced Eleonora-neesan’s outrageous strength. Eleonora-neesan is someone who received Nord-tousan’s genuine swordsmanship, so even if you told me that she was in the same party as the Dragon Slayer in the past, it’s probably going to be difficult for Elna-kaasan, right?

「It’s fine. Elna will not lose to Eleonora」

This is the last time to stop those two. So I asked him with that meaning implied, but Nord-tousan only grins. 

Seeing that I decided to just become a spectator and won’t care about what would happen later.

The feeling of tension and heavy atmosphere even spread toward us.

「Then, begin!」

After Mina shouted the start of the spar, Eleonora-neesan disappeared from her position.

And the next moment. Eleonora-neesan is rolling on the ground close to Elna-kaasan.

Elna-kaasan only shifted her position a little and didn’t make any particular movement.

「……ehh? Why?」

Laying on the grassy field, Eleonora-neesan makes a stupid-sounding voice.

With such an expression that shows she doesn’t know what had happened.

「Ara, you are done already? This will not let me have an exercise」

「――!? One more time!」

Eleonora-neesan must have come to her senses after hearing Elna-kaasan’s remark. Eleonora-neesan swiftly stood up and assume a stance with her sword.

「What happened just now?」

「Hmー, if it’s Al, you know what happened, right」

「Somehow? I think I will be sure of it if I see it one more time」

Sylvio-niisan tilted his head to the side, while Nord-tousan nodded calmly.

Seems like he’s asking me to observe kaasan’s next move properly and try to answer it.

As I look in their direction more closely before, I see Eleonora-neesan circulating her magic power inside her body.

The flow of her magic power is smoother compared to her usage before, looks like her Body Strengthening magic has improved due to the training with the Knight’s Order at the capital.

The moment her magic power is enveloping her whole body and stabilizes, Eleonora-neesan her magic power erupted and she rushes forward.

Simultaneously, Elna-kaasan took a step forward – just as when she usually walks – and extends her long cane as if she were trying to give the cane.

Immediately after, Eleonora-neesan rushes to the cane as if she was drawn to it.

Being tripped by the extended cane, Eleonora-neesan rolled on the grass again, just like before.

「She perfectly grasps the timing of Eleonora-neesan getting closer from the flow of her magic power」

「That’s right. As expected, Al’s sense when it comes to magic is sharp. Though to begin with, it was not the sort of thing that will be noticed if you were any ordinary magician」

Really? If you use magic habitually and feel the magic power near you, I think you may understand how others use their magic power though…….

「What is that supposed to mean?」

Sylvio-niisan – who doesn’t understand the situation – asks us when Nord-tousan and I are talking about it. 

「So Eleonora approached Elna by strengthening her body with magic. Until here, you understand, right?」

「Eh? Really? No wonder I thought she was faster than usual」

Sylvio-niisan is surprised when he listens to Nord-tousan’s explanation, where it was as though he’s trying to confirm whether niisan understands or not.

It sounds like he’s joking, but Sylvio-niisan is extremely serious.

Eleonora-neesan’s movement has always been too fast for us. From our perspectives – who clearly understands and experiences her outrageousness from our normal practice with our bodies -, that was unavoidable.

So if we can’t perceive the fact that she was strengthening her body using magic, we will probably just accept it and be like, 「Ahh, Eleonora-neesan is rushing toward her at such a speed where we can’t see her」.

Even I thought that she was disappearing from her place when I saw her in the beginning, and I thought that it was normal even if she disappear like that.

As for why Sylvio-niisan didn’t think that she was using Body Strengthening magic, one of the reasons for that was because Eleonora-neesan’s specs are just too abnormal.

Nord-tousan might have also come to that conclusion. He explains it with a slightly mixed feeling.

「Well, when it comes to that kind of speed, it’s natural for one to think that they are using their magic power and strengthening their magic」

「Ehh? Then, so the reason that tousan becomes so fast and disappears from our sight during our practice is also due to using Body Strengthening magic?」

「Eh? No, I’m not using that」

「…………」

One of the reasons for the abnormal specs is also right here!

That’s right. Even though Nord-tousan doesn’t use Body Strengthening, he‘s a strange person who is faster than Eleonora-neesan who uses Body Strengthening magic.

I only vaguely felt it, but I think Sylvio-niisan and me already have different senses from other people because of these abnormal people around us. 

「Well, putting that aside, a sharp, magic power-perceptive opponent will grasp the timing of your move if you use Body Strengthening. Like this time, Elna read the flow of Eleonora’s magic power and grasped the timing when she started running」

「So it’s like that. I can’t see her flow of magic power at all」

「You can’t feel it unless you are a skilled magician or an experienced person」

「Then, kaasan, tousan, and Al are amazing since you all can do that」

I think this is also Sylvio-niisan’s amazing’s quality since he can honestly praise others like that.
For some reason, Nord-tousan and I became embarrassed being praised like that.

「Hey, Eleonora. How long are you planning to space out and lying down over there? Quickly stand up 」

「I know!」

Being told that by Elna-kaasan, Eleonora-neesan stands up as she said that.

But, she got an expression on her face that fails to understand her situation, ‘how come she can see all of my movements and cut me off’? Such a bewildered expression is clearly shown on her face.

Even though they are standing opposite each other, the opponent will just be going to become even more confident with themselves if you have that kind of expression on your face. Seeー, Elna-kaasan is smiling.

「You can come at me anytime」

「I’m going!」

I think she got a good personality, provoking without any cause.

 
Eleonora-neesan drew closer while being so patient even though she was provoked. She’s drawing closer while feinting and changing her course.

However, as long as Eleonora-neesan uses such crude Body Strengthening magic, all of her tactics will be rendered completely useless.

Looking at Eleonora-neesan’s flow of magic power, Elna-kaasan is adopting a stance of watching and waiting for neesan’s movement, occasionally she’s only stepping in neesan’s range and extending her cane.

Just by doing that alone, Eleonora-neesan ended up rolling on the grass over and over again.

And in the end, Eleonora-neesan is lying and panting on the grass, perhaps she had also exhausted her stamina. 

Calmly walking toward her, Elna-kaasan points her cane at Eleonora-neesan’s face.

「……I, I lost 」

「Very good」

Hearing Eleonora-neesan’s seemingly frustrated declaration, Elna-kaasan nodded in satisfaction.