Listening to Caesar's explanation, Andrew instantly understood. Still, that amount of force couldn't possibly hurt a hunter who could block a monster's charge head-on. The power behind one of those things was far, far greater than Caesar's.
He remembered back when he was learning other weapons to avoid becoming one of those terrible Long Sword players who trips their teammates. He'd been wielding a Gunlance, facing a charge from a Deviljho, when the Azure Star had yelled:
"Don't dodge! Don't run! Charge towards it!"
"You old bastard! You son of a...!"
After that hunt, the Azure Star's title in Andrew's mind was gloriously demoted from "Master" to "old bastard." Just thinking about it made him grind his back teeth.
Sighing, Andrew had to admit to himself that while the old bastard's training methods were completely inhumane, the results were undeniably top-notch.
"Don't worry, Caesar. A little force like that is just a drizzle for me."
Hearing Andrew's words, Caesar's expression turned a bit skeptical. After all, she had never met anyone stronger than herself in her entire life.
"Really?"
In response to Caesar's doubt, a smile tugged at the corner of Andrew's lips. Back in the later days on the New World, when it came to strength, he feared no one except for the Commander, who was practically a Rajang in human form! Not even that old bastard, the Azure Star!
"Don't believe me? Want to give it a try?"
With that, Andrew extended his hand to Caesar, gesturing for her to take it.
"You can give it a shot. It's fine to use all your strength, see if you can even make my hand budge. Of course, you can use that prosthetic on your left arm, too."
Hearing this, Caesar instinctively reached out, but hesitated before making contact.
"I think I told you, this prosthetic arm was a senior's spare. It's really powerful!"
But this was exactly what Andrew wanted. He smiled and said:
"Don't worry, I remember. And don't worry about me getting hurt. I've got healing potions. One swig can pull you back from the brink of death, guaranteed."
With him putting it like that, Caesar stopped hesitating and frankly placed her left hand in Andrew's palm.
However, she still planned to start carefully and stop before going too far. He was a friend, after all, and she would feel terrible if she actually hurt him.
But the moment Caesar actually started to apply force, she was shocked to find that the palm in her grasp had suddenly turned into a piece of steel—hard and unmovable.
For a moment, Caesar couldn't even tell if her own hand was made of iron or if Andrew's was.
Realizing she had underestimated Andrew, Caesar abandoned her plan to go easy on him. The fingers of her prosthetic hand began to close, tighten, and gradually exert more force.
Yet no matter how much strength Caesar added, the steel in her hand showed no sign of yielding.
"No, that's not right."
If it were just an ordinary piece of steel, it should have deformed long ago.
As someone whose nickname was the "Undefeated Legend of the Outer Ring," Caesar's competitive spirit was anything but weak. Seeing that even more force yielded no change, all thoughts of hurting him or not were instantly thrown out the window. Her prosthetic hand clamped down hard on Andrew's.
But... nothing changed. It was like the Droplet from The Three-Body Problem being desperately attacked by the human fleet; it was as if everything she was doing was nothing more than air.
Like a drop of water into a lake, like a clay ox entering the sea.
In the end, even after mustering all her strength, Caesar failed to make Andrew's expression change one bit. Looking at Andrew, who was still smiling at her despite her all-out effort, Caesar felt her energy drain away.
She gave up, releasing his hand and ceasing her efforts. She said, somewhat dejectedly:
"Alright, I lose. You win when it comes to strength."
Seeing Caesar's dispirited look, Andrew couldn't help but chuckle lightly and say:
"I didn't win anything. We weren't competing, so there's no winning or losing. It was just a test."
Looking at the downcast Caesar, Andrew continued:
"I just wanted you to try so you'd know that you don't have to be so careful with your strength around me. If there's one thing I am, it's durable."
Andrew patted his solid chest, producing a series of dull thuds that sounded ridiculously hard.
"So if something like this happens again, you don't need to apologize. There's no reason to. We're friends, and friends don't apologize for stuff like this."
Caesar, being a bit of a simple soul, found her emotions came and went quickly. After Andrew's reassurance, the thought that it was her friend she'd lost to in a contest of strength made it no longer upsetting.
After all, it was just her friend who was stronger. Not a big deal.
As the old saying goes:
"We're all bros here, why get so hung up on the details?"
So Caesar stopped dwelling on it and said cheerfully:
"Then I won't hold back anymore!"
To be honest, having a friend around whom she didn't need to control her strength was a completely new experience for Caesar.
It made Caesar think of a romance manga she had read before.
The female lead, who had a special constitution, suddenly met a male lead who could perfectly accept her for who she was. Finally able to feel like a normal person in front of someone, the heroine quickly fell for him. Caesar had been rolling around on her bed reading the sweet plot that followed.
As someone who was also "special" because of her great strength, she had naturally identified with the character, and the memory was still fresh in her mind today.
Unfortunately, there had never been a candidate for who her male lead might be.
But today, something unexpected seemed to have happened. The perfect image of a male lead... had he appeared?
There was no time to lose. Caesar decided that tonight, when no one was looking, she would secretly dig out the manga she had hidden away and relive that touching feeling all over again.
"Wait, I came to pick you up to choose a motorcycle! I almost forgot the real reason I'm here!"
Snapping back to reality, Caesar felt a little annoyed with herself. For some reason, she always felt so relaxed around Andrew that once they started talking, she would unconsciously forget everything else.
Could this be the reason why the male and female leads in romance manga always start their back-and-forth banter regardless of the time or place?
Caesar suddenly felt that what had previously seemed unreasonable was now starting to make perfect sense.
"No, no, I'm getting sidetracked again. Focus on the task at hand."
Hopping on her motorcycle, Caesar turned her head and called out to Andrew:
"Come on, Andrew! Get on the back, I'll take you to Blazewood!"
Andrew didn't hesitate, swinging a leg over and settling onto the passenger seat behind Caesar. But when it came to where to put his hands, he was momentarily at a loss.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
Puzzled, Caesar glanced around the seat and suddenly realized her motorcycle's passenger seat had absolutely nothing to hold onto.
Among the biker gangs where everyone had their own ride, it wasn't uncommon for bikes like Caesar's to have space for an extra person, but no one ever bothered to install handgrips specifically for a passenger.
After a moment's thought, a flash of inspiration hit Caesar. She grabbed Andrew's hands and placed them on her waist, saying:
"There's nowhere else to hold on, so just hold onto my waist, right?"
Very pleased with her quick thinking, Caesar nodded and turned her head to instruct Andrew:
"Hold on tight! I'm starting it up!"
______
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