Law of Space and Time

Chapter 22: Several Elderly Men

"Do you know Mr. Erwin, Madam?" the young man asked upon seeing this.

However, Lana was still looking up with an absentminded expression, seemingly having failed to hear him.

The azure-armored woman chuckled as she replied in the red-haired woman's stead, "She doesn't just know him, he's her little lover."

"He really is quite the womanizer, isn't he?" the young man sighed to himself with a shake of his head. Erwin was already surrounded by three women, and now, there was a fourth one being thrown into the mix, so it was no wonder that he would arrive at such a conclusion.

Right at this moment, the hunched-over elderly man suddenly sent a small pebble flying out of his baggy sleeve with a flick of his finger, and the pebble was flying directly toward the azure-armored woman.

The woman was completely unfazed as she raised her middle finger and index finger before unleashing a burst of sword energy, and the pebble was reduced to dust around five feet away from her.

The clash between the sword energy and the pebble wasn't very loud, but the explosion of dust from the pulverized pebble attracted a great deal of attention, and all of the men who had followed Lana here immediately gathered at the entrance of the restaurant to see what was happening.

"I certainly didn't expect you to return after being dead for two decades, Aglea," the elderly man mused as he stared at the azure-armored woman.

The young man's eyes immediately widened with shock upon hearing the name "Aglea". Even to this day, he could still recall the woman in the blue dress and the bursts of sword energy that she unleashed, which were as dazzling as rainbows. At the time, he was only around four or five years old, and that childhood memory seemed like a vivid dream. Back then, he had been with a little girl who was around the same age as him. The two of them had sat on the stone staircase, watching the sparring match between Gower and Aglea. Now, both Gower and Aglea were present in one place again, but where was the girl who had been beside him all those years ago?

"Even after all these years, you're still just as lethal as ever, Senior Gower," Aglea said with a faint smile, seemingly unsurprised by the fact that the elderly man had managed to identify her, even though she was wearing a silver mask.

"You're one to talk. Not only have you not been dead for the past 20 years, it seems you've made unfathomable strides." From the sword energy unleashed by Aglea just now, the elderly man could already sense that she had reached a transcendent level in her swordsmanship.

20 years ago, Gower had lasted over 100 exchanges in his battle against Aglea, and in the end, he only lost by a thin margin. However, if a rematch were to take place between the two of them now, the elderly man estimated that he would only be able to last several dozen exchanges before being comprehensively beaten.

"Do you want to have a rematch for old times' sake?" Aglea asked with a smile.

"As I currently am, I'm no match for you." Despite what Gower was saying, a dagger had already slid out his sleeve and into his grasp.

Aglea naturally caught sight of what he was doing, and a faint smile appeared on her face. Even though she was wearing a mask that concealed her expression, some things could be gleaned even without visual cues, such as the staggering sword intent emanating from her body. It was like a blooming lotus flower that was spreading in all directions.

Even Lana was snapped out of her reverie and directed her attention toward Aglea and the Gower.

In the next instant, both of them lashed out at once. A blue sword appeared in Aglea's grasp, and Gower also lunged forward with his push dagger raised. Before everyone even had a chance to blink, the tip of the sword had already clashed with the blade of the push dagger.

"Is that Windage? Hasn't it already snapped? Why do you still have it?" Gower asked with tightly furrowed brows, and his face was being illuminated by the blue radiance coming from the sword.

"It has indeed already snapped. What you're seeing now is merely something conjured up by my sword energy," Aglea replied in an indifferent voice. It was clear that she didn't want to reminisce about how her sword had snapped in the first place.

Bright blue light was surging all over the sword as it clashed with the push dagger.

A loud thump rang out as scintillating radiance erupted throughout the restaurant, forcing onlookers to shield their eyes.

The dazzling blue light was like a series of vicious pythons, tearing at the gray light that was emanating from the push dagger.

In the blink of an eye, the countless pythons converged to form a single enormous blue serpent that appeared capable of devouring the very heavens. The serpent let loose a thunderous roar, then erupted straight up toward the heavens from the restaurant, illuminating the entire sky above Finklan with its incredible blue radiance. However, the blue serpent was only visible for a brief instant before it vanished deep into the clouds.

Aglea had refrained from killing Gower all those years ago, so she naturally wasn't going to kill him now. The reason why she hadn't killed him 20 years ago was because if Gower were to die, then the little boy with him, or the young man in his childhood form, wouldn't have lived very long without his protection. This was the exact same reason she had decided to spare him now. She was extremely stubborn and devoted in her pursuit of power, but she didn't want to watch the world around her burn and fall into chaos. She knew that if this young man were to die, then the entire world would be plunged into turmoil.

In the wake of the clash, Aglea remained still on the spot like an immovable mountain, while Gower was forced back three steps before just barely managing to steady himself. Furthermore, his push-dagger-wielding hand was concealed up his sleeve, and it was trembling uncontrollably.

He shook his head as he heaved a long sigh. He had thought that he'd be able to last several dozen exchanges against Aglea, but the reality was that Aglea had almost killed him with just a single attack. He knew that if Aglea hadn't held back, he would've already been devoured by that enormous serpent. On top of that, she wasn't even using her legendary Windage sword.

Lana was watching from the side with a dazed expression, stunned by the power that Aglea had just displayed.

"That was incredible." Even the graceful and refined young man was completely in awe of the Aglea's incredible might.

Aglea was was still the same exceptional talent that she once was. Even though the young man was wearing a mask, the admiration that he held for her was still very apparent. In Aglea's eyes, this young man had always been looking up to her, just as he had as a child.

Gower wasn't particularly dejected at his crushing loss to Aglea, and he turned to the young man behind him as he said in a quiet voice, "It's getting quite late now, Your Excellency. We should return to the palace."

The young man nodded in response, then gave the two women a parting smile before turning to leave.

"Wait!" Lana hurriedly stopped him before asking, "Where is the man who wrote this poem?"

An enlightened look appeared on the young man's face upon hearing this. He knew that there had to be a reason why she had been staring at the poem for so long. "You're asking about Erwin, right? His group left after having lunch here. I presume they must've found somewhere to stay in Finklan at this point. May I ask what your relationship with Erwin is?"

"What does that have to do with you?" Lana asked with a hostile expression.

The young man was rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and he could only give a wry smile.josei

However, he didn't take it to heart and departed in a graceful manner.

Gower followed along behind the young man, but as he was leaving the restaurant, his gaze settled for a moment on Perry, who was standing in the crowd, and Perry couldn't help but shudder at the man's scrutiny.

Shortly thereafter, the young man and Gower vanished into the distance. What was rather strange was that the rain falling from the sky seemed to be unable to come into contact with them as all of the rain droplets were diverted away around a foot away from them. It was as if the two were standing under an invisible umbrella.

...

At the easternmost city gate of Finklan, an encounter between a pair of elderly men was taking place.

"Woah, what are you doing here, Sim?" an elderly man wearing coarse linen clothes said with a wide smile. He swept a hand through the air as he spoke, unleashing a burst of sword energy that hung in the air above the elderly man by the name of Sim. The reason for this was that Sim was being pelted by the rain, and the sword energy was acting as an umbrella that was very effective in keeping the rain out.

Seeing as the sword energy was keeping out the rain, the elderly man by the name of Sim was able to take off his large hat, which was meant to keep out the sun but had since been completely soaked by the unexpected rain, so much so that it had reached complete saturation and wasn't able to absorb any more water. After taking off the hat, Sim's head of white hair was revealed, and it was hanging down on either side of his face like a wet mop.

The elderly man in the coarse linen clothes immediately burst into laughter at the sight of Sim's wet and glistening scalp. "That massive bald head of yours has nowhere to hide now!"

Sim paid no heed to him and began to wring out the water from his hat.

Right at this moment, a giant blue serpent rose up into the heavens, grabbing the attention of men.

"That's some mightily impressive sword energy," the elderly man in the coarse linen clothes remarked as he stared at the rising serpent, and the joking look on his face had been replaced by a serious expression. "There really is never a shortage of exceptional talents at any given time."

The two of them looked on with dazed expressions as the massive serpent vanished into the clouds, and at the same time, the elderly man in the coarse linen clothes couldn't help but wonder why the burst of sword energy felt so familiar to him.

After the blue serpent had vanished into the clouds, Sim directed his gaze toward the sword strapped to the other elderly man's waist as he asked, "How many years has it been since you've used that sword of yours, Abel? Do you still remember how to use it?"

The elderly man by the name of Abel seemed to have searched through his memory for a while before giving an answer. "The last time I used my sword was against that girl by the name of Aglea. This sword has never been drawn from its scabbard since then. Although at the time, it was that foolish disciple of mine who was using the sword, not me."

Abel didn't know whether the aforementioned disciple was dead or alive, and he couldn't help but heave a faint sigh at the thought of him.

"I don't think there's anyone in this world worthy of facing my sword anymore," Abel mused in a matter-of-fact voice.

Sim nodded in agreement with this statement.

"So tell me, why have you suddenly returned to Finklan?" Abel asked with a smile.

"Prince Xar summoned me back, so I had no choice but to return," Sim replied with a wry smile.

"Oh?" Abel was rather surprised to hear this. "Prince Xar must be dealing with someone extremely troublesome if he had to summon you back to Finklan."

Sim shook his head with a wry smile as he sighed, "I've been toiling away most of my life. I thought I could finally go into happy retirement and travel the dukedoms of the northern continent, but it seems my life of toil isn't meant to end yet. That's enough about me. What have you been up to? You look a little weary."

"I went to do something in the east."

"Was it something quite troublesome?"

"For now, I'll only say that it was a private matter of Prince Xar's."

Sim nodded in response upon hearing this and didn't pry any further.