Cornflower Witch

Chapter 444 The Boy Under the Setting Sun
After returning to the Asura district, Hilti visited her former teacher again and had a meal with her classmates. Her dress for the Silver Bell Festival was almost finished.

These past two days have suddenly become much quieter. Hilti stood on an observation tower in the Asura district, gazing down at the city.

There's no rush for academics, and the mission of the forest is still far off. She's doing her best to fulfill her responsibilities in life.

Thanks to two consecutive sunny days, much of the snow in the Asla district has melted, and the various buildings are displaying bright colors under the blue sky, adding a touch of comfort to this winter.

She leaned gently against the rough stone wall, her eyes slightly closed, feeling the wind passing through her hair and ears, her heart at peace.

And so, Hiltiya spent the whole afternoon admiring the scenery from the top of the tower, until the evening glow filled the sky. Then, with one hand holding down the brim of her sun hat and the other lifting her skirt, she walked lightly down the stairs.

However, after she stepped down from the tower, a young man who had been waiting for her for a long time stood opposite the sunlit earth. He had healthy wheat-colored skin and short hair as rough and tenacious as wheat in a field.

“You must be Hedra, right?” He raised an unsharpened, rough wooden sword and pointed it at the girl, his arm outstretched as if it had been forged a thousand times.

"it's me."

Hiltiya took off her sun hat, shook her head slightly, and her flowing hair spread out in the wind, reflecting a hazy chestnut glow in the sunset.

"Are you Luke?" she asked, gently placing her hat in front of her.

"That's right, it's me!" The young man opposite him proudly admitted, his eyes showing no admiration for the girl, only a burning passion to challenge the strong.

"Fight me, Hedra, the 'Black Griffin Girl'!"

He gripped the sword hilt with both hands and slowly brought the sword back to his shoulders, like a fully drawn bow, ready to be released.

The girl looked into those bright, determined eyes, and after a few seconds, nodded.

"Ok."

She put down her hat, gently turned the brim with her right index finger, and then, as if prying open the hair beside her ear, the hat flew away in the evening breeze.

At the same time, her hands hung down naturally and spread out, and strands of silk appeared at her fingertips, turning into black lines dancing wildly in the wind, rushing towards the standing boy.

The opponent leaped up in an instant, dodging the incoming silk threads, raised his sword high with his back to the afterglow of the setting sun, and then slashed down fiercely.

As if blocking out the sunlight, Hilti raised her hand, and the wildly dancing threads swept across, attacking Luke who had no way to dodge in mid-air.

'Sword Flash!'

The wooden sword in his hand emitted a dazzling white light, instantly severing the incoming silk threads, and then charged towards Hiltiah with undiminished momentum.

The girl lifted her left heel, turned her toes slightly, and moved like a kite in a storm, letting the sword blade whiz past her. Facing Luke's exposed back, Hiltiah opened her hand again, and strands of silk flew out. But at this moment, another dazzling sword light attacked from her right side, and Luke's back, which was originally preparing to attack, turned into a phantom and quickly dissipated.

So this was the real killing move? Hilti's eyes narrowed, and she leaned back rapidly, her hair and long dress tumbling and dancing in the air as she dodged the second killing move.

But the matter was not over. Before she could even regain her footing, a brilliant third sword light flashed from her left side, the direction from which Luke had initially launched his attack.

Even Hilti had no energy left to change her form and dodge again at this moment.

Faced with the unavoidable sword light, she slightly raised her eyes, gently cupped her hands in front of her, and countless silver threads danced wildly and gathered together. When the sword light struck, she caught it, and then, like thousands of tentacles, surged towards Luke, who was holding the sword opposite her.

"Humph!"

The boy leaped up, dodging the incoming silver threads, and swung his hand back to cut all the pursuing threads before landing again and regaining his footing.

At this moment, the silver threads beside Hiltiya did not stop growing and dissipating, but instead condensed into five spherical shapes. Several seconds later, pairs of wings unfolded from the spheres, and five silver-winged birds circled around her, like satellites guarding her.

Luke gripped his sword again at his side, his eyes fixed on the birds circling around him. Sylvia didn't attack either, but simply stood there in the sunset and wind, waiting for him to make his move.

Twenty seconds later, Luke shook his head and slowly sheathed his sword.

"I lost." He stopped engaging in pointless fighting and competition.

In response, Hilti scattered the woven birds, leaving only one, which rested on her wrist.

She walked over slowly, and by then Luke had already re-tied the sword to his waist and put it away.

Seeing Hilti approach, Luke seemed somewhat displeased. "Are you here to mock me? Then go ahead and say it." He turned his gaze to the side.

“No, I didn’t come here to mock you,” Hilti explained briefly before continuing.

"You don't seem like a student from the Mage Alliance."

“Of course not, I come from further west of the Mage Alliance.” He turned to look at the distant scenery as he answered. “There should be a war going on over there right now,” Hiltiah recalled recent events.

"There's a war going on, but it doesn't concern me much," the other person said, kicking a stone on the ground before offering a brief explanation.

"Those who fight against the Mage Alliance are orcs, barbarians, and some strange alien races from the western mountains. I come from a small human town on the border. Those orcs and barbarians are not exactly friendly to us."

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand anyway." Seemingly looking down on the young woman for being a pampered princess living in an ivory tower and not understanding the hardships of ordinary people, he shook his head and prepared to leave.

"Although I lost this time, I will challenge you again next time. You are at the Tethys Academy, right? I'll remember that."

"Challenges? No problem later." The girl shook her head slightly.

"Actually, I'm not from the Mage Alliance either, but from a remote village in the Southern Woodlands."

Upon hearing this, Luke stopped and responded with an expression of amusement and disbelief.

"Are you kidding me? With your looks, and, well, the way you walk and talk, how do you look like a village girl?"

"Don't rush to deny it. Open your hand and take a look. Only if you have calluses, scratches, and scars on it are you qualified to refute what I'm saying."

“This…” Even without opening her hands, Hilti knew that there were indeed no calluses, scratches, or scars on them.

"There are always many reasons for things." This was the first time she had defended herself so weakly.

Skipping over that topic, Hilti asked again, "Why did you come here to study? I feel you're more suited to the path of a warrior."

“That’s right. Not only you said that, but all my teachers who have met me have also expressed the same sentiment.” The other person whistled and then sat down on a bench in the square.

"The reason, of course, is that warriors are too poor; it's much better to be a mage."

"Uh..." The stark contrast between before and after caused Hilti to pause for a moment.

"How much skill can you discern in my swordsmanship?" Luke suddenly wanted to test the girl.

"It probably uses the 'Mist Shadow' technique to shift positions and alternate between real and false moves, making it difficult for people to distinguish between them."

“If I’m not mistaken, you must have learned the ‘Flashing Figure’ technique from the ‘Illusionary Light School’ and incorporated it into your own swordsmanship,” Hiltiya said after a moment’s thought.

Upon hearing this, Luke turned around in surprise and looked at the girl.

"As expected of the famous genius girl 'Hedra', you can even tell that. This must be your first time meeting me, and I have never told anyone the origin of this sword technique before."

"That's the advantage of being knowledgeable. Those ignorant people before said I was learning assassin techniques, but this is clearly a legitimate mage skill. How can magic be such an inconvenient thing?" He complained while holding his sword.

"People just think you're too arrogant, and some can't stand it." The girl shook her head slightly.

"Ha, those guys are all so arrogant, like if you don't follow their rules you're a heretic. How boring."

"Alright, I'm not going to chat with you anymore, I have to go back." With that, he stood up, the wooden sword hanging loosely at his waist, his hands behind his head as if he hadn't finished stretching.

"Wait a minute," Hiltiya said.

"What is it? Oh right, it seems there's something." He thought for a moment, then took out a sea-blue gem from his pocket and tossed it to Hilti.

"You won, this gem is yours. Well, that's what I've been telling everyone before."

The bird on Hilti's wrist took flight, caught the thrown gem, and then landed, placing it in Hilti's palm.

[Sapphire] (Tier 3, Excellent)

Although the quality was good, Hilti's plan was to use 'Tier 3 Rare' quality gems as the material for the 'astronomical clock'.

She put the gem away and replied, "If you ever want a handy and decent weapon, you can come find me."

The other person didn't turn around, but simply waved and disappeared into the distance.

Although he's a bit arrogant, I feel like he's not a bad guy at heart, the girl thought. Then she made the bird beside her fly up again to a distant branch to retrieve her fluttering sun hat and put it back on her head.

It's getting late, she should go back.

(End of this chapter)