"Well this is slightly awkward…"

Mike thought about what to talk about while he tore a piece of jerky with his teeth when Julie suddenly spoke up

"Umm… So what have you been doing for the last months?"

Mike chewed on the jerky while he thought on how to answer that question, sure he knew it would come eventually but now that he sat here in front of Julie he decided just to tell the truth

"Well after I got hunted out of Morkove I drifted from village to village in fear of being hunted again… Then while taking every opportunity to get experience I got kind of forced to join this organisation of killers called Ø and then I began contract killing targets all over the place… perhaps you have heard of me, they call me vampire blade"

"Really!? Vampire blade is you Mike!?"

"Yup"

"But… I thought that vampire blade was an actual vampire? Was the corpses not drained of blood? How did you do that?"

"Well… I used one of my skills called [Drink] that drains the blood of a target my knife or myself have been in contact with… Well keep this a secret but I have another skill that raises the experience I get when I use [Drink]"

Julie gave a nod and spoke

"An experience enhancing skill is rare but not unheard of, I am a little jealous… So then you have just been fulfilling contracts all this time?"

"Yeah basically until I hit level 3 about a week ago"

Julie gave a nod and spoke

"Well since you have told me about your skills it"s only fair that I do the same…"

Mike gave a smile and shook his head

"You don"t have to if you don"t want, I only told you because it"s you that asked"

Julie gave a pout before she spoke

"And I only want to tell you because it"s you Mike"

Mike gave a laugh which only made Julie"s pout bigger and more cute before he spoke

"Fine then I am all ears"

Julie showed a happy smile as a glint flashed in her eyes before she began speaking about her skills

"Well my first skill is [Judgment] which makes it easier for me to identify non-human filth, my second skill is [Heaven walker] which increases my speed and my third skill is [Valkyrie sword] which boots my ability with a sword and enhances my compatibility with flying animals. And then of course my cla.s.s is [Paladin]"

Mike gave a nod, Julie sure had a fine selection of skills and while [Judgment] was a little situational it was a solid skill even though Mike didn"t fully agree with calling all non-humans for filth

"Wait… you only have three skills?"

Julie gave a nod

"Yeah I am only level 3 after all?"

"...I have five"

"FIVE SKILLS!?"

Julie looked truly horrified and only after taking several long breaths she calmed down and crawled a little closer to Mike before she asked

"I know [Drink] but can you tell me about the rest?"

"Sure… Well after [Drink] there"s [Knife control] which dose as it says, making me able to control knives"

Mike drew the knife and spun it around a few times as Julie watched with awe and a little concern as he threw it and caught it by the blade with two fingers, then she gave a few claps, Mike showed a smile and continued about his skills

"Then there"s [Blood body enhancement] which enhances my physique every time I use [Drink]"

"A self reinforcement skill… ugh, I am so jealous now"

"Well it"s too early to be jealous, my next skill is called [Blood for blood] and it enhances all my attributes when I become injured until I heal it with either [Drink] or through normally"

Julie tilted her head slightly and asked

"[Drink] heals you?"

"Yeah"

Julie gave a pout and turned her head away with a huff before she complained

"What are you, a one man army?"

"Well not exactly, my next skill called [Blood control] allows me to manipulate individuals which I have taken blood from, it allows me to either [Decimate] them, [Evolve] them and/or [Control] them"

Julie crawled a little closer to Mike while she looked around cautiously before she leaned in and whispered

"An army making skill!? What are the effects?"

Mike leaned closer to Julie and whispered back

"Well I can enhance a targets basic attributes by about a level and [Evolve] one of their skills"

Julie looked blankly at Mike before she looked around again and asked

"Who have you told the exact effects of this skill to?"

"Hmm… one person, but she"s trustworthy, one of my friends"

"Hmm a female friend…"

Julie gave a pout and looked away, Mike processed her body language for a moment before a smile crept onto his face and he teasingly asked

"What, are you jealous Julie?"

"Humph…"

"Wait seriously?"

"...Seriously"

Mike let out a laugh that made Julie pout once again before he quickly explained

"She"s old enough to be my grandmother Julie"

"I-I see, in that case I forgive you"

"Forgive me for what exactly?"

Mike was a little confused but didn"t argue with her and was surprised when she leaned in again

"To tell you the truth I know of one person that has an army making skill too"

"Who"s that?"

"The only level 7 on the Island, the archbishop, he was the one that made me a [Paladin]"

"Well that makes sense… No wonder there"s a [Paladin] in every city… There"s this dude that"s practically printing them..."

"Is his army making skill as powerful as mine?"

"No… So keep it a secret, okay?"

"Okay"

"Then… With that out of the way… Can you use the skill on me?"

"Not now, not here"

Julie"s shoulders slumped slightly and so Mike quickly followed up

"But once we return to Morkove I can"

"Promise?"

"Sure, I"ll even pinky promise you"

"Pinky promise?"

"It"s a special kind of promise, if I break it I have to eat needles"

"...Then let"s not do it… I don"t want you eating needles"

"That"s fine too…"

Mike suddenly realized that they were now sitting so close that he would b.u.mp his head against hers if he leaned in and quickly gave a certain kind of smile, Julie saw his smile and asked

"What?"

"Oh nothing I was just thinking about yesterday evening"

"Yesterday evening? What happ---"

Mike cut her off by giving her a quick kiss and then leaned back and watched as her face got increasingly redder and redder until even her ears were dyed red and there practically was raising steam up from her head, then she quickly got onto her feet and stammered

"I-I-I have to go on patrol!"

Then she ran away and jumped onto her gryphon and quickly flew away. Mike gave a chuckle before he and Serina started to get ready for the caravan to move…

A day quickly pa.s.sed and it was about to be evening, as the sky began to darken the time"s Mike looked into the sky increased drastically, he was looking, longing really for Julie to come back, meanwhile the group of adventures which Mike had reduced by one with a well placed throwing knife kept a keen eye on him as they too waited for night to come.

Soon flapping of giant wings could be heard in the distance signalling Julie"s return, she landed in the camp and quickly looked around with an eager look on her face, soon she spotted Mike and got off the gryphon, after petting the gryphon for a bit she walked over to Mike with a brisk pace and stopped at about arm"s length from him before she spoke while playing with her hair

"I am back…"

"Welcome back, good work out there Julie"

Mike reached up and ruffled her hair which made her blush slightly as she pouted, clearly this was not what she expected, Mike quickly picked up on this and stopped ruffling her hair and gave her a quick hug, or at least it was supposed to be

"Erm… Julie?"

"Just… A little longer"

"Okay"

Mike warped his arms around her and hugged her back squeezing her tight for a few moments before she let go of him and he did the same, Julie looked down at her feet with a very happy smile on her face as she spoke

"I prefer this over… The other thing"

"Kissing?"

"~~~"

"That looks like a yes… Well I like hugging too, I mean hugging you"

Julie looked up before she took Mike"s hand and gave it a squeeze and spoke with a smile that seemed to illuminate the evening

"Yeah me too!"