“Dan…danger…”
Scarlett had initially wanted to shout a warning, but Chloe casually raised a hand and grabbed the burning end of the torch, then looked at Nanamo in confusion.
It was as though what she was holding was not a burning piece of wood, but a toy.
“It’s fine. Keep playing. Dad asked me to take a picture with you to preserve this moment of your youth.”
Nanamo then used a Vision Dial to take the picture. It was far more convenient than a camera. Although the image quality was somewhat lower, it could withstand being dropped, and there was no need to worry about the lens wear. It was far more cost-effective for family trips.
“Did I never tell you that my little sister is actually impervious to blades and bullets, and cannot be harmed by fire and water? She’s rather special.”
“You call this…rather special?”
Scarlett knew Chloe was powerful. After all, even Kyros, the strongest man in Dressrosa, could not defeat her. However, she had not known Chloe was special to this extent.
At the very least, Kyros was still afraid of fire. Even if he could endure the pain and pick up burning wood, his body would still be injured. He would never be completely unharmed like Chloe.
“Oh, you’ll get used to it. This is Chloe’s gift for your child. Put it away for now, and don’t let her play with it until she’s at least eight or nine. Remember that.”
“Isn’t Chloe twelve this year? Did she bring something strange?”
“It’s not exactly strange, but unless your Rebecca has some extraordinary talent, it’ll probably be very dangerous. It’s something Chloe herself enjoys playing with. You understand what I mean, right?
“Chloe was so enthusiastic about preparing the gift that I couldn’t exactly tell her no. Just be extremely careful.”
Scarlett could understand after hearing Nanamo’s explanation, but Kyros, who was beside her, could no longer sit still.
“Um…can I open it and take a look?”
“Of course. Rebecca is only a little over a month old. It might be a gift for her, but you two will still be the ones using it as her parents.
I’d also like to see what she prepared.”
Kyros cleared the table and placed the gift box Chloe had prepared on it.
The box was quite large. Even Kyros, a strong and robust man, had to wrap both arms around it. The weight inside and the sound of metal objects knocking together also made him realize that Nanamo might have been understating things.
Swish…
After the box was opened, the first item on top was a rapier designed for a woman. It was slightly small for Kyros, but not so small that it would affect its use.
After casually flourishing it a few times, Kyros returned it to its sheath and hung it on the nearby weapon rack.
That rack was meant for his own weapons. Even Scarlett had to stand on a stool to reach it, so Rebecca certainly could not reach it now.
“It’s a fine sword…”
Had this been a gift for him, Kyros certainly would not have complained. To a warrior, an excellent weapon could be considered a second life. However, Rebecca was not even as tall as the sword yet.
“Well, you know Dressrosa has a tradition of dueling in the Colosseum, and you yourself were a champion who rose from there.
Chloe heard about it, so she had a craftsman forge a rapier using Fishman Island’s special techniques.”
Fishman Island possessed a unique deep sea forging technique. By making use of the deep sea environment, it could alter a weapon’s toughness, hardness, and various other qualities. The resulting weapons were of fairly good quality.
“She played with things like this when she was little…?”
“No, she thought it was too light. She’s been playing with blades since she was little. In any case, even those so-called Famed Swords couldn’t cut her.”
At that moment, a rather impolite thought appeared in Kyros’s mind—there was not a single normal person in this family.
Although Kyros was young, Dressrosa was still a nation in the New World, and its people understood far more about the world than those in the Four Seas.
Through King Riku, Kyros had learned some things about Nereus. An outright monster, the overlord of the deep sea—King Riku had used such descriptions several times.
Nanamo and Chloe occasionally came here to play, and Kyros had personally witnessed, and experienced firsthand, some of these things.
Although he had never met their mother, the other half of Chloe’s bloodline was enough to prove that her mother was no ordinary person either.
“What’s this?”
“Uh…a fireworks shell. It makes very beautiful fireworks. It’s just a little too powerful…”
“Is it really okay for your sister to come into contact with such dangerous things…?”
“She’s rather special. This level of power is nothing to her… I take back what I said earlier. You two adults should be the ones to play with these.”
It was only because firearms had never become popular in Nereus’s household. With their physiques, the family could play live-action Counter-Strike with real guns. Bullets could not penetrate their defenses anyway, so they would have about the same effect as water pellets.
Had guns been popular enough, Nanamo had every reason to suspect Chloe would have stuffed one into the gift box. After all, everything inside was something Chloe herself liked.
Extreme cold or heat, high pressure or oxygen deprivation—neither these external environments nor viruses and bacteria had much effect on Lunarians.
Fully grown Lunarians were even harder to deal with, and Chloe was a perfect example.
“Being ordinary is quite nice too. Isn’t an unremarkable life also a good choice? But are you really not going to stop them? Someone could get hurt from that kind of ‘playing around,’ couldn’t they?”
Scarlett pointed outside the window. Yamato and Chloe had already taken their stances and looked as though they were about to fight.
“There’s no need. They said on the way here that, to fit in with your local ‘customs,’ they were going to hold a duel.
They even called it a ‘fated showdown between best friends’ and told everyone else not to interfere.
They definitely won’t die or suffer any lasting injuries, so don’t worry.”
Kyros wiped the sweat from his forehead. Even though the weather was cold enough to require a fireplace, he somehow felt rather hot.
He suddenly had the feeling that he should never let his daughter play with Chloe and the others in the future.
Having companions like them would certainly be reassuring in the face of danger, but…
“Namuji Glacier Fang!”
“Blazing Phoenix!”
Watching the icy mist spat out by Yamato collide with Chloe’s flames, with occasional flashes of lightning flickering between them…
When there was no danger, the companions beside you might well become the greatest danger of all.
With Rebecca’s tiny arms and legs, she obviously could not withstand such attacks. In all his years, this was the first time Kyros had seen two little girls play by swinging kanabo at each other.
Even after one of them was hit, it did not affect their friendship. Instead, she would hand the kanabo to the other, switch who was chasing and who was fleeing, and begin a new round of the game.
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