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Chapter 14: Jealousy
It was the fifth day since Tsuna had been roped into training with Ais. Lili had personal business to attend to today, so their Dungeon dive had been canceled. Consequently, Tsuna was stuck spending the entire day sparring with the Sword Princess.
"Haaaaaa!!"
Ais unleashed a blindingly fast tempest of slashes. Tsuna remained perfectly composed, effortlessly parrying and blocking every single strike with his gauntlets.
Having reached his physical limit much earlier, Bell had already finished his portion of the training. He was now sitting on the sidelines, watching Tsuna and Ais clash.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Just like yesterday, Ais had exhausted every conceivable tactic and technique in her arsenal, relentlessly pressing the attack. But the effort was catching up to her; she was heavily panting, her shoulders heaving with every breath.
Conversely, Tsuna hadn't broken a sweat. He casually dismantled her entire offensive repertoire with a calm, unbothered expression.
His reaction time is faster than yesterday... He's definitively stronger than he was yesterday...!?
Ais quickly realized that Tsuna had grown significantly sharper in the span of a single day. The speed of his evolution was terrifying.
Bell's growth rate is also incredibly fast...
There were two reasons Ais had offered to train Bell. The first was to apologize for the trouble she had caused him. The second was her intense curiosity regarding his unnatural growth rate.
Bell had only been an adventurer for less than a month, yet he had already reached the 10th Floor. For a normal adventurer, such rapid progress was mathematically impossible. That anomaly had caught her attention. And as she trained him, she was continually shocked by how quickly he absorbed and adapted.
Bell possessed a rare skill called Liaris Freese. As long as his feelings for the person he admired—Ais—remained pure and unwavering, his growth rate was drastically accelerated.
But Tsuna's is even faster...!!
Ais could tell that Tsuna was evolving at a rate that eclipsed even Bell's anomalous progression.
Tsuna's skill, the 'Blood of Vongola', accelerated his growth and caused his strength to exponentially increase with every battle he fought. It was a skill designed for rapid, explosive evolution. However, even without the Falna skill, Tsuna had always possessed the innate ability to rapidly adapt and grow stronger in the heat of combat. The Falna merely took his already monstrous latent potential and hyper-accelerated it.
I felt it yesterday too, but... it's like he's reading my mind...
Ais had also realized that Tsuna's incredible reaction time wasn't purely a result of his physical speed. There was an underlying mechanism allowing him to perfectly predict her movements, though she couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
"You're constantly analyzing the fight and instantly formulating new strategies on the fly. Very impressive."
"And yet, I still can't reach you..."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. If you were actually experienced in fighting other people, the outcome might have been different."
"Eh...!?"
"Hm?"
Ais looked genuinely confused by Tsuna's assessment, which in turn caused Tsuna to tilt his head in confusion.
"I see. So you really aren't aware of it."
"Aware of what?"
"Your swordsmanship isn't suited for fighting other people. It's a style specifically honed to kill monsters."
"...!?"
Ais's eyes widened, clearly struck by the accuracy of his observation.
"How did you know...?"
"Because you fight completely differently than the swordsman I used to know."
Tsuna thought back to Genknight, the elite illusionist and swordsman of the Millefiore Familia's Six Funeral Wreaths, whom he had fought in the future.
"You're a lot like him—you have incredibly sharp senses, and the calm, restrained judgment necessary to convert those senses into perfectly efficient movements. But the 'weight' behind your blade is fundamentally different from his. That's how I knew."
"Was that person really that strong?"
"He and you are pretty much the only people I've ever fought who I'd actually call 'swordsmen,' but yeah, he was strong. His blade was heavy, yet incredibly precise. And it wasn't just his swordsmanship; he was also a master of martial arts and illusions. He ended up losing his cool and couldn't focus on the fight properly at the end, but if he had stayed calm, I might have lost."
"...!?" x2
Hearing that someone had pushed the overwhelmingly powerful Tsuna to the brink of defeat left both Ais and Bell in absolute shock.
"His sword was definitively forged to kill humans," Tsuna explained. "I didn't feel that from you. Which means the only other option is that your sword was forged to kill monsters. It's highly optimized for slaughtering beasts, but it leaves you vulnerable against human opponents. Though, to be fair, an average person still wouldn't stand a chance against you."
"..."
Unable to refute Tsuna's flawless analysis, Ais fell completely silent.
"Well, the path you choose to get stronger is entirely up to you. If your goal was to kill monsters, then your style isn't wrong. If you want to overcome your weakness against human opponents, then you just have to train. Right?"
"Yeah, you're right..."
Taking Tsuna's advice to heart, Ais readied her blade and resumed their training.
.....
By the time noon rolled around, the three of them were starving. They descended from the city wall and headed toward the bustling commercial district to grab lunch.
"Umm, where are we going?" Tsuna asked.
"The northern main street. Tiona told me there's a good Jagamaru-kun stall around here," Ais replied.
"Jagamaru-kun?"
"You just got to Orario, right, Tsuna? Jagamaru-kun are deep-fried, mashed potato snacks."
"Ah. So they're croquettes."
"Cro-quettes?"
"Ah, no!! Never mind!! Forget I said anything!!"
Realizing that 'croquette' wasn't a word in this world, Tsuna frantically waved his hands to dismiss the slip-up before Ais could question it further.
A few minutes later, Ais stopped in front of a food stall. They had arrived at their destination.
"Welcome to our sta—eeh?"
"Eh...!?"
The employee who stepped out to greet them froze in her tracks, her jaw dropping open. Tsuna mirrored her expression perfectly. The girl wearing the apron was none other than Hestia.
Bell, having clearly known that Hestia worked at this specific stall, awkwardly averted his eyes and stared at the ground.
"I'll take three Red Bean Cream Jagamaru-kuns, please."
Completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere, Ais casually placed her order. Her brain short-circuiting, Hestia mechanically took the money, bagged the food, and handed it over with a glazed expression.
She really is working part-time...
Tsuna had known she worked multiple jobs, but seeing a literal Goddess wearing an apron and selling fried potatoes on the street filled him with an incredibly complicated mix of pity and disbelief.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THEM!?!?"
"I-I'M SO SORRYYYY!!"
Snapping out of her daze, Hestia erupted like a volcano. Faced with his Goddess's absolute fury, Bell immediately burst into tears and began frantically apologizing.
To prevent Hestia from finding out that they were heavily associating with Ais, Bell and Tsuna had kept their training sessions a strict secret.
Hestia's incandescent rage stemmed from two primary factors. The first was her intense, mutual hatred for Loki, the patron Goddess of Ais's Familia. The second, and far more significant factor, was that she knew Bell harbored deep romantic feelings for Ais.
To Hestia, Bell wasn't just her first Familia member; he was the boy she had fallen head-over-heels in love with. Consequently, Ais Wallenstein was nothing more than a hated romantic rival. (Lili was also firmly categorized as a rival).
Bell desperately tried to calm her down, but Hestia's jealousy was a raging inferno.
"Umm... I'm just teaching him how to fight. Also, Tsuna has been training me," Ais explained honestly, hoping to defuse the situation. But her blunt honesty only threw gasoline on the fire.
"Don't you dare try to sink your claws into my Bell-kun!! I found him first, you hear me!?"
"Goddess, what are you saying!?"
Bell panicked as Hestia aggressively staked her territorial claim right in front of the girl he liked.
"Hey, Hestia-chan~. Take your lover's quarrel somewhere else. You're blocking the customers," the stall owner yelled from the back.
"Sorry, Auntie! Bell-kun, Vallen-something-kun, come with me! Tsunayoshi-kun, watch the stall while I'm gone!"
"Excuse me!?"
Hestia grabbed Bell and Ais by the arms and dragged them into a nearby alleyway, completely ignoring Tsuna's protests as she unceremoniously abandoned her post.
A few minutes later, the three of them returned. It seemed an agreement had been reached.
Initially, Hestia had demanded that Bell cut all ties with Ais immediately. However, under the condition that she be allowed to observe their training, she granted them permission to continue for exactly two more days. Despite her intense jealousy, Hestia couldn't bring herself to crush Bell's genuine desire to grow stronger. Of course, her demand to 'observe' was entirely motivated by her desire to fiercely monitor them and prevent any romantic developments.
.....
The scene shifted back to the top of the city wall. Having finished her shift, Hestia sat on the edge of the rampart, watching their training.
As she watched Bell get repeatedly knocked unconscious, she angrily protested to Ais. However, respecting Bell's determination, she didn't forcibly put an end to the sparring.
But when it came time for Tsuna and Ais to fight, Hestia was left utterly speechless. The sheer intensity of their clash, and the undeniable reality that Tsuna was actually overpowering the Sword Princess, left her completely terrified of her own Familia member.
As the sun began to set, the four of them wrapped up the training and headed home.
"I couldn't win again..."
Walking back through the city, Ais muttered in frustration, her face drawn with exhaustion. She was deeply annoyed that she had failed to land a single hit on Tsuna once again.
"Tomorrow for sure...!!"
"U-Umm... seriously, we don't have to keep doing this..."
"I haven't lost yet... As long as my spirit isn't broken, it's not a loss..."
Oh god!! She still hasn't given up!!
Despite being thoroughly dismantled over and over again, Ais's determination remained absolutely unshaken.
"I still can't believe he's stronger than that Vallen-something-kun..."
"And he hasn't taken a single hit from Ais-san's sword this entire time..."
"Tsunayoshi-kun... just how strong are you..."
Hestia knew he was powerful, but she never imagined he would effortlessly dominate one of the few Level 6 adventurers in the city. She had moved past shock and settled into a state of numb acceptance, feeling genuinely sorry for Tsuna now that he was locked in the sights of the obsessive Sword Princess.
.....
Meanwhile, on the roof of a building overlooking Orario.
"They're here right on schedule. We proceed as planned."
"Don't order me around."
"Stop acting so high and mighty."
"You savage Catperson."
"The only one who has the right to give us orders is Her."
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