After bidding farewell to Blue Rose, Klem trained alone for a while, but his mind wasn't on the training at all.
Instead, his thoughts were entirely on Brian, who had been leaning in a corner, silent, ever since his spar with Iri-meimei.
Klem had originally come to the training ground because he had met Brian while patrolling the streets and had been invited by him.
However, now Brian was quietly huddled in a corner, thinking about something.
"Mr. Brian, what's wrong?" After several more empty swings, Klem was still concerned about the grave-faced Brian, so he simply stopped training, put down his sword, and walked over.
"Hmm… Klem, sorry… I was thinking about some things." Brian replied, coming back to his senses, then fell into deep thought again.
"…" Klem didn't know where to begin asking about Brian's strange behavior, so he could only sit quietly beside him.
"Klem, what do you think of that little Iri just now?" Brian suddenly asked.
"Miss Iri?" Klem recalled the appearance of the new Blue Rose member carefully, then replied.
"A very beautiful and cute little sister, she gives off a very lively feeling, completely opposite to Princess Lana… Uh… Mr. Brian?" Klem was interrupted by Brian tapping him on the head before he could finish.
"I know Princess Lana is also very beautiful and cute, but I wasn't asking you about that. I was asking you what you thought of Iri-meimei's skill."
"Mr. Brian was talking about that?" Klem finally realized, rubbing his head where Brian had just tapped him, and asked.
"What else could it be? Aren't you at all concerned about such an absurd level of skill?" Brian asked.
"She… she is Mr. Sebas's disciple after all." Now it was Klem's turn to fall into thought; to say he wasn't concerned would be a lie.
However, after learning that Iri-meimei was a disciple of Mr. Sebas, he felt relieved. It was normal for a powerful individual like Mr. Sebas to have a disciple like Iri-meimei.
Klem looked down at his hand, which had unknowingly clenched into a fist. Iri-meimei's strength wasn't just due to being a disciple of Mr. Sebas; it was more about her innate talent and ability!
Klem recalled what Miss Irubyue of Blue Rose had said long ago: there are limits to human talent. Just like now, Mr. Gazef had taught him for so long, yet his progress was minimal.
And then there was Iri-meimei just now… Looking at her age, she was probably only twelve or thirteen, yet she could directly block Brian's blade. Compared to himself… she was vastly superior.
"Let me tell you something, about a monster…" Brian saw Klem seemed dejected by his words, so he patted Klem's head again and recounted his two encounters with Shalltear.
"Mr. Brian! Is that Shalltear really that powerful?" Klem asked, looking incredulous after hearing the story.
"Very powerful… She could block my blade with just her fingernails, and even my strongest attack was easily parried, just like Iri-meimei blocked my blade today. However, in our second encounter, I cut off her fingernail." Brian replied.
Klem then remembered that day, when Brian had been unusually excited talking about this. At the time, he had been very curious: why cut off a fingernail?
Now that he knew the full story, a monster who could directly block Mr. Brian's sharp blade with a fingernail… cutting off her fingernail was indeed something worth celebrating.
"Let me tell you another good thing. Just now, Iri-meimei, in that brief moment of confrontation with her, I almost mistakenly thought it was Shalltear standing in front of me. They are very similar… both in appearance and aura." Brian said.
"What!! Doesn't that mean Miss Iri and Shalltear are together? Blue Rose is in danger!!" Klem immediately panicked, grabbing his sword and jumping up, intending to run out.
"Wait a moment!" Brian, unsurprised, grabbed Klem's collar as he ran out and pulled him back.
"Let people finish talking. Although Iri-meimei is very similar to Shalltear in appearance and aura, she is far from Shalltear. If it were Shalltear… if it were her, she would have definitely blocked the very first strike." Brian said with a hint of excitement.
"Huh?" Klem turned his head, looking bewilderedly at Brian, whose tone seemed a bit off.
"Just now… my ultimate technique, Four Light Slash, it was only on the third strike… that Iri-meimei blocked it. If… if…" Brian's tone grew stranger as he spoke.
"Mr. Brian!" Klem had only seen that excited look on Brian's face the night he cut off Shalltear's fingernail.
"Sorry… I got a bit excited. Perhaps that Iri-meimei has some connection to Shalltear, after all, they look so alike, almost like sisters. Hmm! Sisters?"
Brian now realized that he had initially thought Iri-meimei might be Shalltear in disguise, but after their spar, he dismissed that idea, believing it was just a simple resemblance.
Now, mentioning this… he only just thought, could Shalltear and Iri-meimei be sisters? From her build, appearance, and age, Iri-meimei was like a smaller version of Shalltear.
If that were the case, Iri-meimei would be a quite dangerous individual, but she said… she was a disciple of Mr. Sebas.
From the killing intent she unleashed at the beginning of her fight with Gaguran, which was identical to Mr. Sebas's, it didn't seem like she was lying. Thus, Iri-meimei's identity became quite delicate.
"Mr. Brian, then what do you mean? Does Miss Iri perhaps have some hidden secret? But leaving such a dangerous person alone, for Blue Rose… " Klem lowered his head. After all, Blue Rose had taken great care of him, and their leader, Lakyus, was also Princess Lana's good friend. He couldn't bear to see anything bad happen to Blue Rose.
"How about this, Klem. Find an opportunity later to have a good talk with Blue Rose's leader. It would be best to remind her to thoroughly investigate Iri-meimei's background." Brian thought for a moment and said.
"I'll go right now!" Klem turned to run again, but this time too, Brian grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.
"Iri-meimei is still with them, isn't she! Do you plan to just go and tell them like that?" Brian said helplessly.
…
"Achoo… Ugh…" What's been going on lately? Why do I always feel like someone's talking bad about me behind my back? Is the Blood Emperor planning something against me again? After dealing with Blue Rose, I'll find some time to go back to the Empire and check it out, Iri thought, rubbing her nose.
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