The early summer morning sun was not yet scorching. It shone on the girl's smooth long hair like golden-red silk.
Lucia stopped practicing and wiped the glistening sweat from her forehead. She looked nervously toward the cabin door and hesitantly asked, "C-can we really do this? Shouldn't we practice for a few more days?"
"Didn't you think you were unbeatable long ago? Why are you scared now that the moment has come?"
"W-who's scared?!" Lucia stiffened her neck, then looked away and said guiltily, "It's just that we only get one chance, so we have to be careful."
"The success rate is already fairly high. What remains can't be made up for through swordsmanship alone; we'll need the opponent to cooperate as well. More practice won't mean much," Ivette said calmly.
"I-I... Give me one more day! I need to get into the right state."
"...All right."
Picking up their wooden swords, Ivette accompanied Lucia through another full day and morning of training. It was not until the following afternoon that they finally went together to Sterling's forge again.
The courtyard was empty at the moment, and Aimon was not home. After Lucia explained, Ivette learned that the Kisul Kingdom had recently begun building a dam on the Silverthread River and was offering generous wages. Even retired adventurers like Emon Sterling, who had already accumulated a decent nest egg, had been drawn there to help construct it.
Clearly, the Kingdom's sudden decision to build a dam on the Silverthread River was aimed at the Eagle's Perch Kingdom, with whom it had long-standing territorial disputes.
The Kingdom lay upstream of the Silverthread River, while the river was also the mother river of the Eagle's Perch Kingdom. Building a dam here would directly place the Eagle's Perch Kingdom's vital water supply under