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Chapter 23: Martial Arts
"Are you suggesting the King is behind this?" Alicia asked.
Luis neither agreed nor denied. He just continued looking at her with a smile.
Alicia stared at him and stated, "If he wanted to kill Mom or even you. There was no need to go in such a roundabout way. He could have easily done so."
"Well, that's true." Luis nodded his head, agreeing with her statement. The King was a Transcendent (SS) rank-awakened being. Even if Maria was at her full strength, he could have easily killed her without leaving any traces. There was no need to send some assassins and erase their traces afterwards.
"Did I neglect him too much?" Alicia touched her chin and started thinking seriously. She thought back to the time when she was suspicious of the King too. "I have been suspicious of him too, but never got any proof."
"You were suspicious of him?" Luis asked.
Alicia nodded and replied, "The incident happened when my Dad was called to the Imperial City. It made me suspicious of him."
Luis thought this girl was sharp. He was sure with his help she would figure out the real mastermind soon.
'I could have directly revealed it. But I don't have any evidence.' Luis sighed inwardly.
"Yeah, that is why I asked Jack to make the preparation," Luis stated.
"What do you mean?" Alicia asked.
Luis looked at her and started speaking. "After the family dinner, I talked with your father."
***
Back in time - After the family dinner.
"Uncle David."
"Hm? What is it, Luis?" David turned back to see Luis, who was calling for him.
Luis came closer to him and said, "I have a small request."
"What do you want?" David asked, wondering what his son-in-law wanted from him.
"Can you hide the fact that Alicia is living with us now when you go to the dungeon?" Luis stated his request.
David looked at Luis in confusion, wondering why he wanted to do that. 'What is he planning?'
But he didn't ask his purpose but asked another question, "Whatever you are doing won't harm her, right?"
Luis was silent for a moment, then said, "I am doing this for our better future uncle." At first, he just wanted to take revenge for the previous Luis, but now he has another reason. That was Alicia.
That was all David wanted to know. He could see Luis wasn't lying. He will care for his daughter.
"Okay, the information will be spread as such; Alicia and I returned to the Raven Mansion after this dinner and 2 days later, I went to the dungeon with my guild."
"Thank you, Uncle." Luis was very grateful that David didn't ask any questions. It would have been troublesome to explain everything.
***
"Then I left your mansion's monitoring at Jack's hands," Luis said, pointing at Jack.
"Are you saying they are going to attack me next?" Alicia asked.
"It's not bad to be cautious, right?" Luis said with a slight smile.
"Well, that's true," Alicia murmured thoughtfully.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Luis, Alicia, it's time." Lumine's voice sounded from outside the door.
"Tell me if you find anything suspicious." With those words, Luis left Jack with Alicia beside him.
***
At the training grounds, Lumine looked at both of them and nodded in satisfaction.
"This battle-suit looks good on you two."
Luis was wearing a blue battle suit that covered his whole body. It looked more like an advanced version of a body-tight athletic suit.
"Why does it have to be pink?" Alicia asked. She was wearing a pink version of the same suit.
"But you look cute. If you don't believe me, ask Luis." Lumine said and pointed at Luis.
"Yeah, you look cute," Luis answered without wasting a breath.
"I-I see." Alicia shuttered and shyly glanced at him.
"These suit is made of Giant Badger's skin. So they are very tough and will do a good job protecting you." Lumine explained.
Giant Badgers are B-rank monsters. Their thick skin is so tough that normal-bladed weapons can't even scratch it.
Luis and Alicia looked at Lumine as they had a premonition about today's training.
"In today's practice, both of you will be fighting me." Lumine smiled as she pointed her thumb toward herself.
"Won't we die fighting you?" Luis was extremely serious.
"Don't worry, I'll hold back and won't fight back." Hearing this, Luis was a little relieved, but still slightly worried.
"Let's not waste any more time, okay? I have a lot to teach you guys. Alicia, you are first. Show me all your moves." Lumine said as she stood in the middle of the ground and prompted Alicia to make the move.
Alicia tied her hair so it wouldn't trouble her while fighting. Luis was captivated for a second, but immediately shifted his focus to the fighting stance she took.
"Let begin," Lumine uttered.
Alicia closed the distance between her and Lumine and started using her martial arts.
Her moves were beautiful and accurate, which showed her years of practice and amazing talent. But all her moves were either blocked or easily partied by Lumine.
'As expected, her Martial arts talent is good.' Luis thought inwardly. What Alicia was using were the techniques she learned from Maria when she was alive.
Lumine was also surprised to see her moves. 'She has talent but.'
She blocked Alicia's punch and asked lightly, "Why aren't you using Mana coating?"
Alicia stopped in her tracks. Until now, she had only practiced Martial arts without mana.
"With just physical moves, you won't be able to do anything." Hearing Lumine's words, Alicia didn't hesitate anymore as she covered her fists with mana.
Now her punches became destructive, but Lumine stopped blocking her punches and kicks. Instead, she dodged all of them while staying in one place.
'How the hell is she doing that?' Luis wondered, with shocked eyes. His vision was better than other people's because of his skill, but he still couldn't get a trace of her movements.
'With our current strength, we can't survive.' Luis thought inwardly as he remembered the dangerous events in the game that would probably happen in real life too.
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