Summoning the Holy Sword

Rhode gazed coldly at Anne who was rubbing her hands uneasily. At this moment, the young lady was in a mess. Her hair and cheeks were covered in filthy dust and bruises were visible on her body. Although this incident didn’t take a drastic turn like the popular ‘mysterious chariot continuous killings’ incident, this current situation wasn’t anything worth celebrating in Rhode’s eyes.

“You have had a hard time, Anne. How did it feel?”

Rhode asked sarcastically as he gazed at the young lady before him. In response, Anne showed an awkward smile.

“I-It’s still alright, Leader… Better than expected…”

“Alright, I’m not about to chit-chat with you now.”

Rhode frowned and knocked on the table as his tone turned colder and sterner.

“I recall clearly that I ordered you to stay in the fortress. So why did you disobey my orders?”

“That… Because…”

Anne struggled for an answer. But, she finally confessed everything after giving in to Rhode’s strict interrogation. Although Rhode had forbidden her from leaving the fortress, Anne was unwilling to take on the troublesome and trivial tasks. In the end, she sneaked into the trunk of the chariot and traveled with them.

Anne’s behavior belonged to this category. Her views on responsibilities, loyalty, and feelings were different from normal humans. Compared to the thought process and logic, Anne preferred to handle matters using her intuition. For instance, Anne admitted that she was afraid of being expelled from the guild. However, her rational thinking wasn’t able to stop her instinctive actions. Anne felt more comfortable being with Rhode and she followed with no second thoughts. She wasn’t mindful if Rhode would hate her for it or expel her out of the guild. Come to think of it, this was also in line with Anne’s way of living. Rhode had planned to cultivate Anne’s consciousness and responsibility towards the community by leaving her in the fortress. However, it seemed that this experiment had failed miserably.

“Haa…”

Rhode was at a loss of words to reprimand Anne and he could only sigh hopelessly. Since his experiment had failed, he had no choice but to bring Anne along. However, he counted himself fortunate that Anne’s strength would be beneficial. According to their level difference, Anne was at most three levels away from him. Moreover, the training style in the fortress couldn’t keep up with the requirement she needed. This upcoming battle in the Castel Ruins would truly improve her strength. Rhode had considered bringing her along, but he gave up after considering the overall situation.

Even though Rhode had given thoughts to the overall situation, it was Anne that had utterly given up on it. Or, she had probably simply ignored the overall situation.

“L… Leader?”

Anne lifted her head and gazed at Rhode with an uncertain and insecure expression.

“If I ask you to go back to the fortress, I’m sure you wouldn’t listen, right?”

“That’s for sure, Leader. Anne will definitely choose to stay with you!”

Anne raised her chin proudly. However, in a split second, she realized that her reaction was too inappropriate. The conflicted young lady once again lowered her head.

“Sorry, Leader. But, Anne…”

“Alright, forget it.”

Anne’s behavior was laughable at this point. Even though she knew she was in the wrong, she still acted righteously… This young lady is really… Rhode gestured with his hand helplessly at this thought.

“You can stay this time, Anne. But once you’ve joined us, I need you to act according to my commands from today onwards. If you disobey any of my commands, I will expel you from the guild immediately and I don’t want to see you ever again. Do you understand me?”

“Understood, Leader! Anne promises that Anne will surely, surely listen to Leader’s words! There won’t be a problem!”

Anne let out a cheerful smile as she threw herself onto Rhode. She gave him a tight hug before making the promise. Rhode suspected that Anne might have only heard the first part of his words…

Rhode calmly pushed the young lady away and gestured.

“Alright, go take a bath and clean yourself up. You must be tired after staying in the trunk for so long. Have an early rest.”

“Okay, Leader. Anne is going now!”

Anne excitedly raised her right arm and answered as she left a trail of dust when she ran out of the room.

Rhode held onto his forehead as he looked at the shaking door. Meanwhile, Gillian finally stood up and approached Rhode.

“Hu hu hu. I didn’t expect that there would be someone who could give Master such a huge headache.”

“I’m just feeling a little hopeless. It can’t be considered as a headache.”

Rhode retorted at Gillian’s mockery. However, the young lady wasn’t mindful as she chuckled and looked out the door in deep thought.

“So then, Master. If Miss Anne disobeyed your command, will you really chase her out of the guild?”

Rhode pondered and stood before the window.

“I think you should know my answer, right?” Rhode replied.