Incus didn’t do anything for a while, but she then stepped into an open field and summoned one of her swords.

Afraid of going dull, she practiced her swordsmanship, leaving marks into the earth, she continued this for a few hours.

The rest of us just watched, getting ready to move at moment’s notice.

"Steinen."

Standing up, he raised his great sword.

Going into a fighting stance, they then turned into a blur, as the sound of clamoring steel permeated through the battlefield. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Not bad, let’s turn up the intensity shall we?"

Pausing for a brief moment, the swings of her swords became even faster.

Steinen however was slowly catching up.

Well, that’s what Alleus says at least.

"What’s happening now?" Vertere asked.

"Incus swung from above and then from every direction, Steinen managed to block the attacks it seems."

Jumping back from each other, the sparring session stopped.

Out of nowhere, a messenger then came running out of nowhere.

"I’m glad that you’ve recovered, after hearing the news, the king wanted to give you a message."

"What is it?" Incus wiped the sweat off her face.

Opening the scroll in hand, the messenger began to read:

"Hero Incus, you are to return immediately to the palace... you are to get married soon as the dangers have been getting more rampant as of late. Regards, from the King."

Sighing, Incus spat out mucus.

"Lets get going then."

Glancing over at Steinen, his fist was clenched and the fibers of his clothing was ripping apart.

"I feel so bad for him." Alleus pouted.

"Well, it’s not like we can do anything about it. Come on, lets get going."

As we followed Incus, Alleus went into shops to get some potions since we didn’t really need anything right now.

***

Appearing in the front gates, of the palace, the guards blocked the way for us. The novel wrote that only Incus and Steinen entered through the gates.

Checking their status, I deduced that they were weaker than us. So we took the opportunity to beat the living daylights out of them and broke their spears.

It seems that the other background characters who saw what happened were afraid to do anything.

I’ve never felt so powerful.

Maneuvering through the halls, we then stopped by the gates to the king’s throne, which was forcibly opened by Incus.

"What’s the meaning of this, I thought that there was still time before the marriage took place. You dare to continue breaking your promises, how ill mannered of a king."

"Blasphemy! How dare you talk to the king that way!" A guard retorted.

"Stand down." The king raised his hand and continued:

"Of course it’s right for you to be angry, but the rate of raids on our kingdom has been unavoidable, so the marriage has been pulled to happen much earlier. But I assure you, this will be the last time that I break any further promises."

Emitting a killing aura, Incus lashed out:

"You’re concerned about a petty marriage instead of the well being of your citizens! A king should serve the people, not the other way around."

Turning around to leave, Incus added:

"Tsk. Just call me on the day of the wedding, not a day before or after."

Leaving the throne room, Incus walked with haste to her chambers and slammed the door shut. Steinen gently opened the door and followed after her.

"That was quite a lot. What should we do now captain?" Lieur asked.

Sitting down on the ground, I stretched back.

"For now we’ll rest, then continue training. We should expect the next event to be much more gruesome than the raid by Dragonborn and the shadow demons."

Laying next to me on the ground, the three used their pouched as pillows.

***

Over the coming days, we did the same routine as we had in the battlefield but Vertere was reciting and writing down on his notebook.

Alleus was sparring against Lieur in martial arts.

I continued to improve my one handed swordsmanship.

My stats or skills didn’t improve which was a shame but I couldn’t really complain since there seemed to be a hard cap in stats. This what master Index meant by reaching one’s peak.

If only he were still alive, he would’ve had advice that would help me a ton. But since he’s not, I’ll have to do everything myself.

However if there’s one thing I really want to do, it’s the spear techniques from Radeius, in particular the one thrust one shot technique.

Mimicking the steps by pulling the sword back and spinning the hilt, I thrust forward. But instead, I accidentally threw it forward.

Quickly picking up my sword, I made sure that the other’s didn’t notice.

Thankfully they didn’t.

Hearing a faint snicker I quickly twisted my head back...but everything seemed to be normal.

How in the world did Incus do this technique with a sword?

Attempting the technique multiple times, making sure that I caught the blade by the pommel when it was about to escape my grasp.

Scratching my head furiously, I recalled the time when Incus practiced the three techniques for an entire night.

Everything that I did was correct, so what could I possibly be missing? Is it strength?

"Scales, strengthen me."

Wrapping around me, I instantly felt a surge of strength.

I must not waste the limited time I have in this form.

Making sure that I do the steps perfectly, I took my time while making sure that I make use of the one minute time limit.

Each time I attempted the technique, the attack felt more powerful albeit slightly.

More. Faster. Quicker.

Just when I felt that I touched the surface of the technique, the scales dispersed.

"Scales strengthen me."

Feeling the surge of strength once more, I continued.

I can’t let my desperateness falter my technique.

Stomping my foot, pulling the sword back, I spun the handle of the sword and thrust forward.

"...Sky severing thrust...!"

A strong gust of wind shot forward, the ground got slightly roughed up.

I did it.

But then, my a throbbing pain became evident in my arm.

"Urgh!"

Falling to my knees, the dragon scales dispersed into a bracelet.

The scales would stay into the form that I told it to, which is convenient.