Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 136: The farewell (3)- Blade Aura(1)

The baroness looked at Theo for a second before she faced Rhys again in confusion.

Rhys had a light smile on his face, and when the baron saw that, it was the first time he felt invested in the conversation. He looked at him intently.

Pointing at the mantis in Theo's palm, Rhys spoke again, "That beast killed 7 boars today… 4 of which happened when young master was not with it."

The baroness looked at him with a frown; she felt both confused and shocked at the same time.

"7 boars in a day?" she spoke out loud and looked at the baron, who finally stopped patting the wyvern and made his way forward.

"Defeating 7 boars the first time it went to their territory is astounding, more so when for half of them… Theo wasn't present." The baron spoke with a nod of approval. He looked at the mantis, who was cleaning its own bent-up foreleg with no care, and chuckled.

"You keep surprising me, Theo Merrick." The baron's gaze fell on Theo now, and a warm smile formed on his face.

The only thing he saw was an eight-year-old boy holding a bug the same size as his palm in front of him. Nobody would ever believe the feats the duo was achieving if not for the knight observing them.

"You did well today, Theo. That stone you brought back is in my office right now. Quite a rare piece actually, according to Alfred. Meet me later so we can talk about what to do with it."

"Okay, Father." Theo spoke instantly, and the baron's gaze fell on the mantis again.

"Are you sure it can recover from these injuries this time? Seems serious." He asked thoughtfully with a hand on his chin.

"… To be honest, only time will tell, Father." Theo spoke, yet a question came to his mind right away.

"If it's no trouble for you, can I ask you a quick question, Father?" Theo asked.

When the baroness looked at his face, she smiled and shook her head. She knew what that smile was.

The baron only nodded, and Theo quickly spoke, "Today, I saw Sir Rhys perform a slash from his sword that cut everything in its pathway—every strand of grass, Father…" Theo spoke with some excitement in his voice.

The baroness frowned and looked at Rhys, who just averted his gaze and yawned.

"What about it?" the baron asked in confusion. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Theo hesitated in asking his question, but he quickly took a silent deep breath and asked away, "I was wondering if one day… I would also be able to do that, Father. Is it possible?" Theo asked with a determined face, making the baron look at him with a serious face.

Yet soon enough, a wild grin formed on the baron's face that changed into a roar of laughter soon, "Puhahahahhahahahaha….!!" He roared in laughter, making the baroness just shake her head and shut her ears.

Rhys started frowning as if annoyed by that loud laughter.

When the baron stopped laughing, there were literal tears of joy in his eyes, "Are you seriously interested in learning it, Theo?" he asked with a grin, and Theo nodded.

"That… technique you just saw, it was nothing but a forward slash in the air, Theo. Isn't that right, Geller?" The baron asked, and Rhys nodded.

"It's the most basic thing one learns during swordsmanship, young master," he stated plainly.

Theo felt confused by what they both said. "That was just a simple technique?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, if you thought that was astounding, then wait till I show you this." The baron grinned and kept one hand on the hilt while the other on the scabbard.

He might have been wearing his usual white clothes, but there was always his sword with him. There were even rumors that he kept his sword very close to his bed during sleep too.

"Uh… honey, that's not a good idea…" The baroness stepped forward to try to stop him, but stopped after looking at his face.

Everything about a Merrick could be known by his/her expression, it was an old saying that was correct for the baron.

Theo knew if Father wanted to do something, he would do it no matter what.

"Oh, it will be alright, dear. Just watch." He said with a grin, and when that sword came out of the hilt slowly from the scabbard, Theo felt a piercing feeling all around his body. He stepped back, and sweat started forming on his forehead.

The baron was very excited, but when he saw the state of Theo, a sudden realization formed on his face.

"HUMM!" Theo shouted with his mouth closed in determination and stepped forward with his eyes sharp.

When the baron saw that expression of his—the aura of not going down—another burst of happiness came out of his heart. His son was strong-willed. What father wouldn't like that?

The baron took the whole sword out of the scabbard. While Theo didn't know what it felt like to be actually stabbed by a sword, he was feeling as if he was really getting stabbed around his body.

It was a weird feeling, but as his father wasn't reacting as much, he only took it as a learning curve and steeled his heart.

"Watch carefully, Theo." The baron spoke and walked to the edge of the balcony facing the vast, cloudy sky.

He brought the blade of his sword near his face and closed his eyes. Theo stepped a little to the side to see what was happening. It almost looked like he was praying.

In a second or two, Theo's eyes twitched. He felt like he was imagining things. The sword was starting to emit steam from its blade, that was going up in the air like smoke but vanishing soon enough after leaving the blade's surface.

The baron opened his eyes again. When Theo looked at him, he did not know what the pressure he was feeling was. His eyes were so concentrated that Theo did not recognize his own father at all.

Then, without any warning, the baron shifted his body—only by a little. His arms rose, and in a single fluid motion, he sliced through the air.

The blade made a slight afterimage and whistled with a lot of force. Even the winds generated were enough to rustle Theo's hair, who was about 10 steps away from them.