A Day with the Sword Princess

On the Wall Again

Her face widened in shock but soon softened. She quickly realized Bell was very happy to see her, perhaps helped by a certain dream she had last night. It was a stark contrast to the poor and beleaguered, white rabbit she had witnessed the night he rejected her hand on his face.

She tenderly murmured his name while gently patting him on his back.

"Bell..."

A moment passed.

"Thank you so much Miss Ais!!...I was so worried that—...thank you for remembering me, thank you for being here!!"

Ais smiled, the candor of his gratitude touched her heart, in that moment she had forgotten her worries.

"...Don't worry...I'm here Bell."

Bell basked in the warmth of her embrace, after what certainly was not a short amount of time as far as embraces go, they broke apart. Bell had regained his composure. A short moment of comfortable silence followed; Ais spoke first.

"Shall we...begin training?"

"Yes! Of course, Miss Ais."

Shortly thereafter, the intense sound of sword on knife began to fill the sky.

......

"Hiyaaaaaaaaah!"

Bell had let out a battle cry as he sparred with unprecedented strength and skill with the Sword Princess, sword and knife were locked together.

Shiiiiiing.

Ais broke the lock with great skill and lowered her sword, for the first time in all her sparring with Bell, she was nearly out of breath.

"Haah haah haah...shall we take a break?"

Bell nodded.

The sun had risen, Bell and Ais had been sparring for a few hours. It had been plenty of enough time for the Sword Princess to assess Bell's strength.

In short, she was absolutely flabbergasted. She knew that he had been growing at a record-breaking fast rate, but even she was shocked at how much stronger he had become. It had only been about two and half months since their struggle, their fight over the fate of a certain viouvre Xenos.

To have come this far in such a short amount of time, its unthinkable! How is it even possible? Even from a few hours ago, he is fighting at a greater speed and strength, as if he is still adjusting...yes, he has gone on an adventure...

"Bell, have you already leveled up again?"

"Yes, just last night."

"...?! How long did it--?"

"Umm...it took just over two months."

It was no secret that leveling up became harder the higher the level. It had taken Ais about three years to go from level 4 to 5. Bell had done it in two months and nine days.

"You have become very strong...so strong in fact that I barely recognize you from when we first trained. I'm very impressed. In order for you to gain anything from training with me, I can't hold back much anymore, if at all, at least without my magic."

Bell's face flushed red with the genuine praise from the beautiful Sword Princess. He could see the gears turning in the head of the girl who had always been so focused on getting stronger.

Ais wanted to ask him again about his goal of catching up to someone. It was the only reason he revealed to her for his fast growth. She got cold feet yet again, instead she decided to ask him about something just as astonishing as his fast leveling. Bell wasn't just fighting like a level 5 adventurer who had just leveled up, he was fighting like a cream-of-the-crop, high-level five, top-tier adventurer.