BXBX NOVEL Chapter 220 - Again (8)
"This is indeed a nice place," Edward said. "I imagine that Jean is trying really hard to keep your group close to him."
"At least he isn\'t forcing us to do or receive anything, that is enough for now," Billy said.
"I assume you have heard the latest reports… Do you have any idea how the enemies managed to do that?" Edward asked.
"I think the same thing as Jean, but I am having a hard time coming up with a plausible explanation," Billy replied. "We don\'t know enough about them and their state to come up with any ideas… Still, I assume that they have some smart individuals on their side. If it was due to the effect of loot obtained in one dungeon, such a thing was supposed to have happened a long time ago."
Edward nodded. While materials and items with random effects appeared now and then inside dungeons, the timing was just too perfect for the beast tamers. It was clear that they had been planning that they faced the barbarians for a while… at least during the time. Billy also thought that those items\' original goal was to be used against them since the enemies knew too little about them, and Billy himself caused a lot of problems to them in the last war. While they didn\'t lose much, they probably had imagined that the Hiloh state would fall before they showed their true colors.
In any case, while they were thinking about that, several hours passed, and then Kate and Natalie showed up. Billy wondered at that moment why Nikola, some of the red archers, and the elementalists didn\'t come this time. Maybe it was because it would be troublesome if so many important people were to leave their town for several weeks all at once. Nevertheless, Edward was all smiles when he saw his daughter, and while they were quiet as usual, Natalie and Lucy also seemed to be in a good mood. After a while, they had dinner together, and things livened up even more… which made Billy think that Sarah was probably living a lonely life. While she had some servants as well, her meals were mostly her eating by herself. Still, Kate and Sarah worked together, and she never mentioned anything.
It would take two more days until they had a day off, but everyone stayed up until late, thanks to the visitors. Despite that, when Billy went to train in the garden the next day and very early in the morning, he saw his parents sparring.
"Now this is an unexpected sight…" Billy said. "What is wrong, mom? I know that dad doesn\'t want to lose to Samara and Samuel too soon, but I didn\'t expect that you would feel the same way."
"Hey, you are talking like the fact of me losing is just a matter of time," Drew protested.
"I really don\'t care about that, I just felt like I was being left behind since everyone is getting stronger and I am not making much progress," Camilla said. "So, I decided to practice more than usual."
"That so…" Billy nodded. "I think you would get better by mixing magic with your fighting style. Anyway, give me a minute."
Billy left to his workshop, and they returned after a couple of minutes with three metal bars in the sizes of their forearms.
"These are crossbows and they are used like these, use them on a pinch," Billy said and then passed the slightly better prototypes that he made in the last month. "The last one is for granny."
"Crossbows are those things the beast tamers use, right?" Drew asked while looking at the weapon from different angles. "I didn\'t think they could work without bolts."
They couldn\'t. Only Billy\'s crossbows were special enough to work by using mana. Still, he didn\'t mention that, but he told his parents to only use it in very dangerous situations since it might draw unwanted attention. Billy could improve those even further, but he decided to keep them at a low level to make himself enhance the craftsmanship and make their original attributes reach as high as possible.
In any case, Billy watched his parents sparring for a while, and he studied their forms. It was an excellent experience to watch someone fight using the same fight style since Billy could see from a third perspective where he could improve. Once that was done, they had breakfast together, and then Kate and Natalie left to work. Considering that they saw what Billy had been working on with the crossbows, his parents knew that he wasn\'t slacking. However, Edward and Lucy still looked dubious about his actions.
"Do you guys want to walk around the city?" Billy asked. "Visiting Jean might not be a good idea considering that he is busy due to the end of the war and the approach of the next one."
"We also can\'t bother Kate and the others while they are working," Edward said and then looked at the twins. "I suppose taking it easy while walking around might be a good idea."
The truth was that Billy didn\'t know much about the city either since he was always too busy, so that was a good chance for him as well.