I woke up at noon and noticed that everyone has gone. Only me and the potted plant, Sunny in the room.
"It's just us two from now. Let's get along until we reach Cassau."
Sunny shook her… flower head? I'll think of that as her agreement.
I guess even a plant want to be stronger.
I get out of the bed and wore prepare to leave when Sonia appear in front of me.
"What's wrong, Sonia?"
"I noticed that you're awake when your buckle belt moved. Just a message from Albert saying that some nobles are preparing to made a search of the princess. Though Albert told them to stay put, there might still be some idiots who dare to look for Shirley. He said that any important news from him will only be delivered through me, so anyone who claim themselves to be his messengers deserve to be killed. Even if they are nobles, you are free to kill them. In case they are from another country, Albert said that he will think of their act as hostility from their entire kingdom and prepare a war against them." Sonia relayed Albert's message.
Albert sure love his sister, right?
"That I can do. Have you told the girls others?"
"Yes. They said that they will get Shirley has a makeover to make her unnoticeable by the nobles. Since she's rarely leave the palace, it might be doable."
"Okay. Since she's with the others, just tell them if Albert has another message related to her."
"By the way, where are you going?"
"Who's asking?"
"Everyone."
Seems like I made everyone curious at where my destination is.
"Home obviously. To Cassau. But my way might be different than theirs. Just tell them to wait in Cassau if they arrive first."
"Okay. Bye." Sonia just quickly said her farewell and about to disappear.
"Wait! Are you in a hurry?"
"No. The girls are just doing some shopping. We will probably leave tomorrow. I'm just going to enjoy our girls' time." Sonia disappear while having a smile on her face.
So they haven't left yet and went shopping instead. I guess it's fine to enjoy themselves.
Girls sure love shopping. And they can even bonded with each other by shopping together. I just hope that no trouble will come to them since they're a group of beautiful girls. Well, even if any man approach them, they will fall victim to the 'Nutcracker'.
I left the inn after finished my breakfast… or was it lunch? Then I picked Sunny and left the inn.
"Hmm… it will be difficult for me to fight this way. I'll find something to strap you in my back if that's okay with you."
Sunny moved her flower up and down.
Then I bought a bandage to strap Sunny on my back. Sunny's head or flower like head moved above my shoulder to see the front view.
"How is it?"
Seeing her nodding again, I left the capital that way.
Many people looked at me curiously but I just ignore them. It's rare to see someone is piggybacking a potted plant so it's obvious that I gained attention.
I think I saw a glimpse of Shirley happily laughing when she's kicking a man's balls. It's just my imagination, right?
As soon as no one is looking at me outside the gate, I run as fast as possible to… I don't really know where I'm going so I just run straight forward and enter the forest.
"Sunny! How's the ride?!"
This time, Sunny's leaves are dancing. I guess she loved the wind.
Just a few minutes after entering the forest, we encounter our first monster. It's a hobgoblin.
"Alright. Sunny, I'll leave you here. Try to attack that thing with your seed or entrap it with your vine. I'll adapt to your fighting styles."
I put the potted plant on the ground and charge at the hobgoblin alone.
Then I sensed something from behind me so I dodged to the right. I noticed that Sunny throws a seed straight to the hobgoblin. Which means if I didn't notice, that seed will hit me.
"Hey! I told you that you can fight however you want! But that doesn't mean you have to attack me!"
I complained to the plant who seems to be excited in fighting a monster.
The seed that Sunny throws hit the monster but didn't do any damage at all. I guess it's still way too weak to fight alone.
"For now, don't attack it blindly. Your attack doesn't work on it but it can be used as a distraction. Try to attack it when this monster's attention is focused only at me!"
I don't know if Sunny can understand difficult order, so I just fight against the hobgoblin without caring about whether Sunny understand or not.
For this battle, I'll just try fighting it barehanded with the help of my Aura covering my whole body to make up for my defense. By using my Aura, my strength and defense are about the same as the hobgoblin after a few bout. So this is how strong I am without my weapon, huh?
As for my spear, I smashed it into pieces and put them in my pockets. I'll just use it if I can't defeat my opponent in a bare knuckle fight.
The hobgoblin is armed with a club, but I knocked it away and now we're fighting with punches.
Hobgoblin intellect only allow it to make a simple and predictable attack with its fist, so I'm obviously have the advantage since I trained to kick as well. But for now, I'll just use my fist without kicking, or grappling.
Since the hobgoblin's attacks are predictable, I can easily dodged it. But seems like its defense is quite high even when I'm covering my body with Aura. If I just cover only my fists with my Aura, I can easily defeat it with one punch, but I need to train with my Aura covering my whole body to get used to it.
Both Sonia and Victoria told me that practicing with covering my whole body with Aura will benefit me more than fighting with just covering one part of my body or my weapon. They say that doing it will make my body adapt better to Aura when my Aura is getting stronger later.
As for how to increase the strength of my Aura, I just need to use it more often. And… I need to train getting hit on my body while it's covered with Aura. I don't like that part of training.
Victoria said that since there are many Aura user in the past, so they often had a spar to improve their Aura. Since I'm the only Aura user here, that's impossible. And no one has enough physical strength to for me so I can increase my Aura. So I have to fight monster with good physical ability. Just like this hobgoblin.
With my personality, I would always finish the fight as soon as I can, but since it's a training, I can't do that. I need to lower myself to get hit by this stupid hobgoblin's attack. Aura user sure has a perverted way to practice.
Let's allow this hobgoblin to land a punch on my body first.
The hobgoblin raised its hand high and swung it down to my head. But I tilted my head and let it hit my shoulder instead.
"Argh! It's hurt!"
While I was distracted by the pain, the hobgoblin tried to attack me again. Fortunately, Sunny threw a seed right at the moment when the hobgoblin is about to attack me and distracted it.
I escape from its range of attack and catch my breath. There's no healer with me this time, so I can't afford to get any major injury. I need to move my body so the impact will be lessened. Maybe just dodged it slightly so the attack will just scratch me.
If I do that, it will take a longer time for me to get stronger. I have no choice but to take the damage and hopefully, I won't get injured.
On the next bout, Sunny is already capable to coordinate with me and judge when and where she should shoot. I never thought that plant type monsters are smart. Or maybe it's just Sunny.
Finally after exchanging punches many times, and getting hit over and over, the hobgoblin seems tired and its attack is slowed down and weakened. I guess it's time to end this.
I tripped its leg and mount the monster. Then I pummeled its head with my fists until it got severely weakened, but not died yet.
Then I grabbed the tip of my spear and opened a hole in the monster's chest.
"Sunny. Keep shooting at the hole in its body until it died."
I lifted the hobgoblin, pulled the spearhead, and let Sunny aimed at its chest freely.
The seed doesn't do much damage, but it will surely dies soon.
Then the monster died with its chest filled with seeds. What a cruel way to die.
"Oh? You seem to get bigger again. I guess you're a monster that has quick grow ability. Lina will be pleased with you."
The flower then danced happily hearing my praise. She really is similar to Lina. Like Master like summon.