Published at 17th of February 2020 6:30 pm

Chapter 51-53: As the Disturbance Comes to an End, the Big Sister Makes Her Move

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

This might sound strange, but at that time, I could instantly tell that I was seeing a ‘Dream’.

There was a dark forest, one so dense that almost no sunlight could reach within… and it was filled with plants that were clearly not of earthly origins.

I remembered what these were, hence why I could tell.

That this forest was the same ‘Sea of Trees’ where I was born and raised.

And that the scenery before my eyes was probably… a dream.

After all, I should’ve left that place behind quite long ago. But now it suddenly appeared before me, so it couldn’t have been anything but a dream.

Also, there was yet another sight before me, one that felt exceedingly out of place.

Seeing this was what made me think “this can’t be real” and decisively judge it as a dream.

“…Still, even if this is a dream, there was surely a better choice than this…”

There stood two people, the two I knew very well.

One of them was… me. My past self, to be specific… from, I believe, around 1-2 years ago.

And the other was — perhaps you could call it fitting for this time axis and place — my mother. Naturally, I’m referring to the one after my reincarnation.

But her being with me itself was nothing out of the ordinary, considering she was my mother and all. All the more so if it was a dream.

…If you were to ask what looked wrong in it… it would be the fact the two of us were covered in blood and full of wounds, with our breaths out of order.

Seeing it from the side made it look as if… that was the result of a bloody deathmatch between me and my mother…

“…I’m not sure whether or not I wanted to see it to the end.”

“You wake up and that’s the first thing you say?”

And as such, just as I woke up from my bad — or should I say ambiguous — dream, Elk was fast to greet me with that retort.

By the way, if you are wondering why Elk was next to me when I woke up, I wish to use my right to remain silent.

☆☆☆

“We have a guest?”

“That’s right. It is a woman… and they claim to be your acquaintance, Minato-sama.”

As I started the morning in a bad mood and was on my way to downstairs with Elk and Alba to grab some food, the innkeeper stopped me with those words.

According to him, our guest seemed to be a girl… but who could it be?

If I were to speak of my female acquaintances, there was Sherry-san who also stayed in this inn… but I don’t think there was anyone else whom I could really call an acquaintance, was there…?

Just as I was wondering that, Elk warned me to be careful; she said there were some women who approached guys with false accusations like, “we deepened our bonds when you were drunk” and such. Ouch, so there are such nasty girls, huh… as expected of another world. Quite a lawless place this is.

I kept that possibility in my mind and headed towards the lobby where that woman waited, all while shaking my head in annoyance.

The one waiting for me there was…hmm?

It was someone I felt like I knew, but at the same time, didn’t; I couldn’t quite put my finger on either.

If I had to be frank, she was quite a looker, no questions asked. She had a cute face, with traces of immaturity still present, and a shoulder-length green hair, albeit a lighter shade compared to Elk.

She wore a refined green dress, with a leaf brooch on her chest and a leaf ornament of the same design on her hair.

Her seemingly embarrassed — or perhaps perplexed — face, coupled with her bashful conduct was quite cute, to be fair.

Enough for Elk to glare at me with somewhat murderous eyes from the side.

Err, in any case…

“Uh, hey~ …do we know each other? I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time recalling your face…”

“Eh, a-ah… I see, so you don’t know…”

When I asked that, she appeared to be shocked for an instant, and then muttered those words as if she had given up on something. Was that part of the act too? Is this heading towards the route Elk mentioned?

Before either of us could open their mouth, Elk stepped in front of me with a stern expression and asked her. Or rather, pressed for an answer.

“Can you skip your needless preface and start with introducing yourself? Who are you supposed to be? What’s your relationship with Minato? If this is some weird scheme of yours…I’m not gonna forgive you, you hear me?”

“I-I’m not planning anything! I’m just, um… ah! That’s it! if I do this…”

She was bombarded by Elk and started to panic, but then she hit upon some idea and closed her eyes… the next moment,

“D-Do you understand it with this, Minato-san, Elk-san?”

““!!?””

…What the?

Is this… telepathy? And moreover, this magic power belongs to… a ‘Dryad’!?

Ah, wait, that was kinda misleading.

Only Elk can perceive Dryad-chans’ telepathy; a matter of talent, I suppose. And Zally, too, since he possesses the interception item.

The only ‘Telepathy’ I can receive is from Neil, the Alraune. And only when she’s really close at that. But that’s apparently because Alraune, who are higher species of Dryads, have powerful telepathy by default, so it can somehow do its job even if one doesn’t have a talent for it.

In fact, whenever the Dryads contacted us during this incident, it was usually either Elk — or me too if I was close — who received Neil-chan’s tele-… wait, hold on a minute.

Since I can hear this telepathy, does it mean that the girl before my eyes is actually…

No, but that can’t be… I mean, yesterday she was definitely…

However, as if she had read what I was thinking, she took a deep breath… looked directly at still-bewildered Elk and me, and — intentionally using telepathy — declared to us.

“You may not believe me… but it’s really me, Neil!”

The ‘Neil-chan of the Alraune’ inside my memories was a girl who looked like a middle school freshman with red hair and clothes, as well as a red flower ornament on her hair.

However, the current ‘Neil-chan’ before my eyes had… a pale green hair and a matching green dress. Her hair ornament looked like a leaf, and she now had a brooch too. Even her height was closer to a high schooler now.

She had changed way too much overnight, or rather, I couldn’t even believe she was the same Neil-chan, however… she knew about us, about things we talked in her presence, about things only she should’ve known, as well as what I ‘requested’ and ‘did’ with her last night.

Ah, I’ll say this in advance, but I haven’t requested anything I should feel guilty about. Really, I didn’t. Though I’ll omit the details.

In any case, it turned out that this beauty was the real Neil-chan.

It seems that even she was surprised after finding herself looking like that when she woke up. What the heck?

While she was racking her brain on how to handle the situation, the Dryad-chans also woke up… however, their surprise apparently lasted for only a moment and they quickly accepted her with ‘It’s Neil-oneechan!’ That’s quite amazing.

But she still felt anxious about it, so she decided to meet with me and Elk, the two humans she could trust, and ask us if we knew the reason behind her drastic change.

When I asked her how she found out that we were staying in this inn, it turned out that she identified our location by sensing our magical powers, much like a radar.

Apparently, even this ability was something she could suddenly use since this morning. Again, what the heck?

Thus, after she explained all that to us in a desperate manner, she asked whether we knew anything about it… but unfortunately, I had no idea. Neither what her change (at this point, it’s better to call it a transformation) was, nor why it happened.

However, Elk had a hunch on what her sudden change itself could be, setting aside the cause behind it.

According to her, some Spirit and Undead type monsters could, in extremely rare cases, ‘Evolve’ into a higher species by fulfilling certain requirements.

It was much like how Dryads became Alraune.

And Neil-chan was an ‘Alraune’. Since it was a Spiritual race, then perhaps by some kind of factor she was made to ‘Evolve’ and become an even higher species of ‘Alraune’? Elk built up such a hypothesis.

But still, I know I’m repeating it again, but I didn’t know the reason behind it. Even Elk had nothing to offer regarding that… or to be more specific, the whole mechanism behind that ‘Evolution’ was still not fully solved.

Me and Neil-chan were in the middle of listening to Elk’s little lecture…but suddenly, one man slammed the door open and barged inside.

“Minato-san!? Is Minato-san here!?”

As we checked who it was, it turned out to be someone clad in the vigilante corps’ clothes, and thus one of them, most likely.

He probably made a full dash towards this place as he seemed to be out of breath. However, his expression told us that he had no time to worry about it. What’s going on? What could he need from me?

Just as he saw me (+ Elk, Alba and Neil-chan) in the lobby, he rushed towards us while out of breath.

“Minato-san, I’m so glad you are here… Please come with me, I beg you! If possible… please bring that owl and miss Sherry with you, too!”

“H-Hey, wait… first, calm down. What happened? And why Sherry-san too?”

And why did he address her with a ‘miss’? Well, it doesn’t matter.

“I’ll explain later, please hurry! There is a monster… an unbelievable monstrosity is heading toward us from the eastern skies!”

“““!?”””

Just as we were shocked by his words, Alba sitting on my shoulder turned around with great vigour, as if something had entered his wild sensor.

That added to our concerns and we hurriedly left the inn.

I didn’t even need to head towards the watchtower to see that ‘monstrosity’ the vigilante corps witnessed… it was already close enough to see with the naked eye.

What was flying straight towards this village from the east at ultra-high speed was…

“““A Dragon?”””

It was the very monster that was popular in RPGs and such, with the very same appearance.

It was clad in jet black scales and had bat-like wings, as well as horns on its head; that’s all I could tell from this distance… but I could already feel the unbelievable pressure coming from it.

People who saw it were already starting to panic a little.

Sherry-san and Zally, who overheard the noise also came downstairs and were shocked to see it in the distance.

“H-Hey, isn’t that a…!?”

“…Come on, this isn’t funny anymore… Is this town cursed or something? Unbelievable monsters are appearing one after another… So, Minato-kun, I feel bad for relying on you on this, but think you can do something about that?”

“…Well, I have never met one of those, so I’m afraid not…”

Judging by the distance and how big it currently appeared…it should be quite big in size.

If this town was attacked by something like that, there wouldn’t be anything left from it; one didn’t need to be a genius to realise that fact.

Actually, assuming we do put up a defensive line and fight it, we’d have to do all we can to keep it from entering, but I think that would be quite impossible… or rather, can we even fight against it? No matter how you look at it, it seems like it’s on a level where even Naga would be a joke to it.

If that happens, I’m not so sure whether me or Sherry-san can fight it… and if we consider the safety of the townsfolk, a complete evacuation seems to be the only way… no, I’m not sure if we can even do that…

Just as the grim mood started to spread among us…

“Aah, quiet down, people of ‘Minette’. Calm down. It’s okay, this guy won’t attack your town, so relax. You are wasting your strength, so settle down and stop running.”

“““!?”””

Without a warning, that telepathy — or more like a loud voice from speakers when making a wide-area business broadcast — reached everyone. It felt like it was forcefully crammed into our heads.

In a moment, every person who was on the verge of panicking was startled and stopped in their tracks. Even their voices died down and the place was wrapped in silence.

Their fear and bewilderment didn’t go away at all, but the current ‘indiscriminate telepathy’ knocked all of it down. More than the loudness, it was that overbearing voice that left no room for argument that achieved that. Everyone froze up, being even more bewildered than before. I was also included among them. No really, what was that just now!? Did that dragon actually speak!? You mean to tell me that’s a thing!?

…Wait, besides that, I think I’ve heard that voice before…

Before I could find an answer to any of my numerous questions, I heard the sound of something falling.

And the next moment, a single human came swooping down from the sky before our eyes… right in the middle of the road.

“““!!?”””

“Whew, I arrived… Sorry about that, everyone. It seems I scared you there.”

That person neatly landed on the ground with those casual words unsuitable to the current situation, and faced towards us…

And then, we finally confirmed who that person was… and became surprised all the more.

After all…

“Irene…san…!?”

“Hey, Minato-kun, you seem quite lively there. Thankfully, it seems that your injury has healed too.”

A living legend had suddenly made her appearance.

☆☆☆

After several dozen seconds that dragon made its descent. We then heard from Irene-san that the black dragon was actually… her mount.

That fellow was called ‘Delta’ and according to her, it was an S Rank monster, ‘Dark Dragon’… She told us to be at ease as she had it properly tamed, so it wouldn’t suddenly attack people.

It was currently lying down where it landed and was resting its wings.

And as for its master, Irene, she hurriedly asked the town mayor to lend her a room in the assembly hall… and then brought me, Elk, Sherry-san, Zally, as well as the Alraune Neil-chan — as she too was the involved party — to that place. Of course, Alba too.

The only thing she told us was, “I’ve got a little something to ask, so come.”

Presently, the five of us and one bird were sitting on the sofa across Irene-san inside that room. And she had yet to tell us why she called us here.

Moreover, there was also one more person sitting next to her… a man I have never seen before.

He had a black hair — quite unusual for this world — that just barely reached down to his chin.

He was a typical handsome boy with good features and a pair of glasses.

His height was quite something, too. Perhaps around 170 cm. He wore what looked like a simple, long robe… but it also looked like something a magician or someone like that would wear. He was currently eyeballing Irene-san while sighing from time to time.

“Good grief… you suddenly appeared without an appointment and told me to accompany you… That laid back nature of yours never changes, Irene-dono.”

“Sorry, sorry, Will-kun. It’s just that I heard you were finally done with the research you’ve been devoting yourself to and was having a day off, so I thought it might be fine. I was in a hurry, you know.”

“I wish you would understand that taking a day off usually means one wishes to rest and get rid of the fatigue… Oh well, not that I mind, really. I heard there was a fascinating sample here, and besides…” he clapped his hands and continued, “I heard I would be meeting my newest brother, so I was looking forward to it a bit.”

And that was when I finally realised that I was having a yet another chance meeting with one of my still-unknown siblings, and without any warning at that.

“I take it you are Minato-kun? Nice to meet you. I am William Kitz. the tenth man of Kadrille family. It might be strange to say this while doing a little chat… but I am your brother. I work as a biologist in the royal capital. Please call me ‘Will’, everyone calls me that. Let’s get along.”

“Ah, yes, umm… thank you for the polite introduction.”

Perhaps he felt my gaze on him or heard my sighs, the glasses-wearing man before me extended his hand for a handshake towards me, so likewise, I also responded in kind.

It seems that this new biologist brother of mine, William, was suddenly visited by Irene-san and was asked to accompany her, and was brought here all the way from that royal capital by riding that dragon.

…Uh, Irene-san? I feel like the abruptness and nonsensicality behind your actions is on the same level as my mother.

“I do feel bad about that. But as I already said, I was really in a hurry this time. The horse carrying the report from this town reached me at dawn today, and there were some points that caught my eye in it. So after I finished reading it, I jumped on Delta and made a dash.”

“…In other words, after you read the letter in ‘Volka’ at dawn, you flew to that ‘Royal Capital,’ and then took Will-niisan and came to this ‘Flower Valley’?”

She departed at dawn… but it’s still just forenoon now.

A one-way trip to here from Volka took us a few days by carriage… and you are telling me that she covered that distance in just a few hours, and even dropped in the Royal Capital on the way? There’s something wrong with that speed.

“That’s just how in a hurry I was. So yeah, let me get down to business at once… Minato-kun, Elk-chan, Zally-kun, and also… Sherry-san and Neil-chan, I believe. Please tell me about the monsters you fought during this incident, and make it as detailed as possible.”

As she requested, we talked with her about the current incident in great detail.

How the ‘North’ came here aiming to kidnap the Dryads and Alraune, abducted the village elder’s daughter to threaten him, and tried to have me and Sherry-san take each other out, but their plan ended in failure.

How the drug that was used during that time was the reason behind monsters turning brutish and attacking the town.

How a plant monster — it was called ‘Tropical Tyrant according to Irene-san — appeared from the forest during that time and how we fought it.

As well as… how we encountered an unknown, black dinosaur-man monster and how I fought it one on one.

And how I pushed myself a little and used my ‘Trump Card’, but still landed a decisive blow to it.

While I was at it, I also told her that I once encountered a similar monster in the ‘Sea of Trees’, albeit with different body colour.

Will-niisan asked us to show him the materials we collected on this occasion, so I asked Zally and we took out the potatoes the ‘Tropical Tyrant’ left behind, as well as the scales, claws and fangs of the Unknown.

Will-niisan took a little glance at the potatoes and quickly returned them back to us, however, he took his time with inspecting the small quantity of the ‘Unknown’s’ materials, even going so far as to take them in hand and inspect them with a magnifying glass.

At times, he fluently noted things down on the paper he used as a note while carefully observing, or more accurately, ‘Appraising’ it. Irene-san observed him from the side with a smiling yet serious face.

Seeing that I finally realised it.

That the reason these two suddenly appeared here was that ‘Unknown’.

After taking a good 10 minutes to appraise its claws, fangs and scales, Will-niisan leaked a sigh and put those materials down. Seeing that, Irene-san enquired about the results.

Will-niisan looked at the paper (roughly A4 size) where he noted down things and said.

“I believe there is no mistake. I examined the structure, the magical reaction and the such, and roughly speaking, there is a match. However, there are various minute differences aside from the colour, like density and magical conductivity, so it’s most probably…”

“A subspecies, yes?”

“Yes, I think it is safe to say that.”

“““…?”””

Irene-san and Will-niisan exchanged those words in a mysterious manner. And after thinking for a while, she looked straight at me and said.

“Minato-kun, would it be possible to leave all these materials in my care? Of course, for suitable compensation.”

“Aah, so it came to that after all, huh?”

She had her usual smile on her face, however, her eyes were dead serious… They gave off a kind of oppressive feeling, seeming to swallow you up.

The atmosphere she gave off felt as if — or perhaps it really was like that — she was simply ‘confirming’ it while assuming that I would give my consent… as if she was pressuring me towards that option.

Regardless of whether she was aiming to do that, or it was simply the end result, to think she could do all that with just a stare… This person is really unbelievable.

But well, since she was being so serious about it, there was probably appropriate circumstances behind it… and I wasn’t really reluctant to consent to it either. Though it was Zally that gathered them all.

But his eyes conveyed to me that he was leaving the decision to me. He probably had a big interest in them as an informant, however, he didn’t want them to the point that he would reject a direct request from the Guild Master.

In that case, there is no problem. However…

“Well, I don’t mind if that’s what you want… but — and this isn’t really something I’m asking in exchange — can I ask something?”

“What is it? Well, I think I already have an idea.”

Well, given where this conversation was going, of course she would.

“Just what kind of monster is that lizard? Not a single person knew about it, and just about everything was different with it… Is it a rare monster, after all?”

I asked around about it after everything was over, but no one had a clue. Be it the well-informed Elk, or the informant Zally, or Sherry-san with her peculiar knowledge as a Dark Elf, or Neil-chan who was familiar with the surrounding ecology as an Alraune(I suppose she is no longer one, but still), or anyone from the town or ‘North’.

Not to mention that unbelievable strength that I had experienced four years prior, too.

Whether it be its offence, defence, endurance or even agility… there was no monster that could compare to either of them from the ones I have met so far (excluding mom’s pets).

I don’t like to boast about myself, but whenever I seriously struck it, it responded with a strike of its own; it was smart enough to imitate the skills of humans… I can’t even remember how many times I was surprised in that short battle.

Based on its low familiarity, it shouldn’t be something that you meet so often… but it’s still weighing on my mind. If possible, I’d like to know more about it.

As she listened to me, Irene-san pondered a bit and opened her mouth with “well, I suppose it’s fine.”

“Let me say this first, but even I don’t know much about that monster, okay? It’s a monster whose sightings have barely gone up ever since its existence was acknowledged by the Guild a few decades ago.”

With those words as a preface, Irene-san started the talk.

“The name of that monster is… ‘Diabolos’. It is a monster that belongs to the strongest class among the nine monster group classifications… to the ‘Dragonkind’ class just like Delta.”

***

‘Diabolos’.

That was the identity of the monster I fought at both the ‘Sea of Trees’ and this ‘Flower Valley’.

It had draconic features and human build, and a characteristic long and strong tail. However… it was in a different league from the ‘Lizardmen’, the lizard people that shared the same characteristics.

It was covered in green scales, with blood-red nails and horns.

Their population was apparently low, so there were only a handful of eyewitness reports per year. That’s why their ecology has not been fully confirmed. And their habit of wandering around without holding a set territory added to that.

It’s been a few decades since it was first spotted, however, its appearance was depicted in the old literature and on the murals of some ruins too, and there were also reports of its fossils excavated from the earth… All that made it hard to tell how long have these species been around for.

Irene-san had encountered one forty years ago, and it was apparently quite a powerful one. It seems that they managed to collect its entire body back then and performed research on it in the Guild research facilities and such. And turns out that Will-niisan was the head researcher of that research team.

That said, due to the circumstances back then, she could not afford to hold back and leave the prototype intact… As such, its corpse ended up being a little too wrecked and as expected, they weren’t able to find out much from it.

With this, I understood why mom didn’t know about it. As I thought, it turned out to be an extremely rare… or perhaps, a ‘new’ monster, in a way.

That was just how little was known about ‘Diabolos’… however, there were three things that have been confirmed at present.

One was the fact that it possessed a dangerous physical ability, vitality, as well as befittingly crazy fighting strength.

Another was that it was intelligent enough to understand human speech, and its learning ability rivalled even that of humans.

And finally, the individuals that had grown up to a certain age apparently possessed something much similar to the ‘chivalric spirit of the warriors’. That is, discounting the times of extreme hunger, it avoided bloodshed unless it was challenged to a fight.

The eyewitness reports of them so far—discounting ‘exceptions’ like me and Irene-san—were all by powerless people like kids and the aged, hence they were able to run away without having to fight them.

Other than that, the adventurers and mercenaries that did stand up against them were… “assumed” to have been beaten down, ripped apart and killed without an exception, as if to say, “if you are going to fight me, then there will be no mercy.”

Indeed, assumed. Because only what “looked” like corpses of victims were found. Hence they could only make conjectures based on the nearby eyewitness reports, with nothing decisive to back it up.

…And that was all that we knew about ‘Diabolos’.

On top of that information, Irene-san told me three things that were somewhat unbelievable…or frightening, even.

One was that all the witnessed ‘Diabolos’ so far were green in colour, so there was a high possibility that the black one I fought was an even stronger ‘Subspecies’ of it.

Second was…

“Oh yeah, the ‘Diabolos’ you fought, Minato-kun. As it was less than 2 meters in height… It was probably still a ‘child’.”

“““…Say what!?”””

…C…h…i…l…d…?

Child? Kodomo? Brat? Shota? (That’s off)

Huh, what, are you saying that this one and that one from four years ago weren’t even adults!? Despite being that strong!?

“Yeah, the ‘Diabolos’ I fought, and the ones that have been confirmed at various places, were mostly about 3-4 meters in height. So I think at 2 meters it would still be in the process of growing.”

“…Whaa…”

It was that strong, you know? Like, seriously, I was in quite a tough spot there…

While I quickly handled it after I used my trump card ‘Dark Joker’… I actually had to use it… I feel like I’m losing my confidence here…

“No no, you are thinking about it the wrong way. The ‘Diabolos’ is deemed to be at least S Rank by the Guild. Even their children are befittingly strong… not to mention, you had to fight the ‘Subspecies’ which is even stronger, so I say you did great, Minato-kun.”

“““S!?”””

“Yeah. More or less… So, what do you think, Will-kun?”

“Let’s see. Considering its immaturity and the cell activity as subspecies… I would say it’s a AAA ranked, only a bit short of S, I suppose?”

“““AAA!?”””

“If it reached the full maturity… it could probably reach SS or even higher rank.”

“““SS!?”””

I’ve been learning so many unbelievable things one after another nowadays.

I never thought that fellow was on the level of S and above ranks.

I wonder if I should feel glad that the opponent this time was a ‘Child’… If I fought with an adult one, and a ‘Subspecies’ at that, I might have died even if I used my strongest move ‘Dark Joker’.

While we were shuddering in the realisation of that fact, Irene-san delivered the final blow with her words.

“Also, Minato-kun, this has been bothering me since I heard your story, but you did not confirm its corpse after it fell into the valley, right?”

“Huh? Ah, that’s right… I quickly returned after that…”

“I see. …Well then, I wonder if it really died for good…”

“““Huh?”””

Say what?

“You see, the vitality of ‘Diabolos’ is beyond the norms… It wouldn’t die so easily. Moreover, its regenerative power is like that of the reptiles, so it’s fast to recover too.”

“If I remember correctly, I heard that the individual Irene-dono fought still looked quite lively even after everything below its waist was blown off by magic.”

“Yeah. After that, I cut off its arm, pierced its body along with its internal organs and bound it to the ground with magic spears, but it still did not die… Far from it, it even started roaring in a really loud voice, releasing shockwaves that assaulted the nearby humans, so I had no choice and pierced its head, and only then was it finally silenced.”

…What’s up with that. She continued fighting something like the ghastly splatter from those zombie movies.

Oh man, there’s no way I can have a piece of mind now after only destroying some of its internal organs and bones.

Timidly, I asked about that.

“I see… Well, as we have neither data nor a precedent, it’s hard to even make a conjecture… but in my opinion, as long as its heart has not been crushed, it would be able to regenerate the broken bones and internal organs…”

“I don’t know how deep that valley goes, but even if it was seriously injured I highly doubt it would die from a fall… And if there was water from a river down there, then we can assume that it is alive and kicking.”

So that means that I can’t feel relieved at all, doesn’t it? And it might come here again, right?”

Come on… are you for real…!?

The unexpected truth (well, still only a possibility) made all of us present to hold our breaths. Could it be that the mayhem of the ‘Flower Valley’… still had more waiting for us?

…As I was wondering that, Irene-san answered.

“Ah, that probably won’t happen, so you can relax.”

Huh, why?

It turned out that ‘Diabolos’ had 2 precedents in the past where it was defeated but got away without losing its life…

And in both of those cases, the defeated Diabolos left—I suppose you could say, with good grace—the place where it fought without attacking a single person.

As if a warrior that had lost the duel was recognizing the opponent’s strength and surrendering the territory to them.

What’s more, several such records have been found even in the ancient manuscripts… and it was thought that the previously-mentioned ‘chivalric spirit of the warriors’ was the primary cause of it.

That’s why, it probably wouldn’t even come back to the forest of the Dryads, much less attack this town; Irene-san believed that to be the case.

“Well, I’ll still take precautions just in case. There’s also the post-investigation too, so I plan to dispatch the personnel from the Royal Capital and the Guild… so you can have them protect this town and its surroundings during that time. At any rate, based on what I heard, there was no fault in what you did. You had no way to confirm it, either. You can relax, and there’s no need to blame yourself either.”

“Mhm…”

“…Well, I figured saying that would be useless, so just reflect on it to your heart’s content and reach your own conclusion.”

“Hah!?”

“Oh, I just can’t get enough of your reactions.”

“…Irene-dono, my little brother is seriously feeling troubled there, so leave your jokes at that…”

…I’m not even sure what I should be troubled about first.

We should’ve been having quite a serious conversation here, but before the mood turned serious—there is a chance that she intentionally aimed for that—our conversation had come to an end.

Before leaving she even encouraged me to properly see the request we took through to the end. After that, she mounted the Dark Dragon Delta along with Will-niisan and flew off into the distance.

Good grief…we found out so many shocking facts in less than an hour…

It seems that I’m still far too inexperienced as an adventurer and there is still a long road for me ahead.

I’m sure many things are waiting for me up ahead… so I need to give it all I have.

By the way, when we asked Irene-san and Will-niisan about Neil-chan’s ‘Evolution’… Irene-san actually knew what she was.

The superior species of plant spirits, one rank higher than ‘Alraune’.

Their name was ‘Fesperides’, and they were species in the AA Rank.

Well, she just evolved so she could not handle her power well, but still, Neil-chan, that was one heck of a leap you had there… Really, I wonder just what was the reason behind this.

☆☆☆

Next day after Irene-san’s sudden visit.

Albeit slightly delayed, Malrus Caravan finally departed from the ‘Flower Valley’ towards ‘Volka’ loaded full of flowers. And so did we, their escorts.

We left the ‘Flower Valley’ behind as the townsfolk, and the Dryad-chans too in private, saw us off with words of gratitude. We enjoyed our journey without many accidents aside from occasional thieves and monsters.

Oh, and there was no linguistic mistake in that line, okay? Those were my honest feelings.

And so, on one such day during our journey.

I was sitting on top of the carriage while basking in the pleasant spring (-like) warmth with nothing to do. Suddenly, Sherry-san came out from the inside and pushed a bottle of alcohol with a cup towards me in a flirtatious manner. Oh, is she asking me to keep her company?

Well, I don’t really mind that. My stomach was quite low on fuel too.

I accepted the cup after which she filled it for me. I drank it slowly while enjoying the taste.

I suddenly remembered that I had just perfect snacks—the dried fruits that Neil-chan gave me—to go with it in my bag, so I took them out and shared them with her.

“We really have nothing to do… There aren’t even any thieves or monsters around.”

“I mean, isn’t it quite fine this way? Peace is the best.”

We have gotten caught up in such a big battle in the ‘Valley’ and yet she was still complaining about there being not enough thrill; I couldn’t hide my exasperation towards her as I refilled my cup.

This alcohol was a product made in the ‘Valley’, and it didn’t have a strong taste as you’d expect from whiskey and such, but instead was sweet like a cocktail. Because it felt closer to drinking juice instead of alcohol, it wasn’t popular among those that preferred their drinks on the strong side, but it was just right up my alley.

We spent the time while doing idle gossips.

During our conversation, Sherry-san asked me something that suddenly came to her mind.

“Hey, Minato-kun. Why did you become an adventurer? You don’t look like someone that has any desires and seem to hate fights… I really can’t think of a reason that would urge you to become one.”

“Ah… You have a point…”

Elk told me the same a while back, didn’t she? That I wasn’t really ‘Adventurer-like’.

Still, ‘why’, huh?

Even if you ask me why… uhhh, it’s hard to find an answer to that; I feel like there isn’t one, to begin with.

After all, I simply felt like it would be fun after Mom recommended it to me… So I suppose there really isn’t any goal that made me do so.

Well, if I had to add, I suppose I could say that I felt like it was more unshackled and comfortable compared to normal jobs, and it also seemed to be less of a hassle than to climb up in ranks as a newbie in a corporation or the military. In fact, I’m the type of guy that finds anything beyond his interests a bother to do and wants to live doing what he likes.

As I gave that passable answer to her, Sherry-san, in turn, started to talk about her reason for becoming an adventurer.

Honestly, though, I could kind of tell what it was.

Given the personality she has… I daresay it’s some kind of wild and brutish reason like wanting to fight stronger people and living as she pleased.

When I listened to her story, my guesses ended up being mostly on point… But in addition, it seems that her family circumstances were involved in it.

Sherry-san and her tribe apparently lived in the so-called ‘Hidden Village’ located deep in the mountains, and they isolated themselves from the outside world as much as they could. So that they could protect their culture and customs.

That village had kind of ancient, or better said, old fashioned ‘laws’, and those who lived there were imposed with various strict limitations since their birth.

One of them, the most fundamental law was to cut any kind of interaction with the outside world.

It was banned to enter the village as well as to leave it. It seems they spend their entire lives within that village and its surrounding mountains. They hunted animals and gathered fruits and edible plants, living in quite a self-sufficient way.

As their site location was good, there were many a messenger from the surrounding tribes, but they sent each one of them back. It seems that they sometimes even escalated into fights, but they still obstinately kept on protecting their laws.

However, as Sherry-san had a battle mania since her childhood and was a free-spirited individual down to her roots, she gradually came to feel opposed to such an environment and insisted on wanting to depart on a journey in the outside world, often leading to conflicts with the other villagers.

Then one day, when she finally reached her limit, she broke that rule and rushed towards the outside.

The villagers caught up on it and tried to stop her even by force, however, Sherry-san stood out as the fighter of the strongest class even among her village, so she broke through the encirclement with her own strength and was successful in her flight.

And then, she spent her days freely as an adventurer—albeit with some hardships—in the outside world she always dreamt of… and arrived to this day.

“They really exist, huh… villages that are too uptight in trying to protect those old-fashioned and pointlessly strict customs.”

“I know right? You would think that, right? Those villagers were really, really hard-headed and honestly unbearable. You needed a license to leave the village, fights were forbidden. If that wasn’t enough, like I would want even my marriage to be decided by my family for me. I’m really glad I left that place.”

Well, leaving the fights and stuff aside, their laws were indeed full of things that would make her opposed. No wonder she couldn’t bear it.

In fact, even I would’ve found it unpleasant if those kinds of laws were forced on me. They were made to look as if they were the most righteous acts, while they were no more than some selfish ‘sense of values’ they came up with.

Back when I was having a fake battle with Sherry-san she said, “I hate when some values are forced on me” but it seems that that in itself was not an act but her true feelings.

“Well, I have only heard it from rumours, but it turns out to be true, huh. The fact that Elves consider themselves to be special and often live isolated from the other races. I take it Dark Elves are the same?”

“Err, well part of them, I suppose. But my tribe was a bit different or should I say special… Rather, Dark Elves are in general a more unconstrained race compared to Elves.”

“Oh, is that how it is?”

When I asked that, she told me that while there were only a few in ‘Volka’ and this region, if you headed more to the northern side of the continent, you could—while not in great numbers—sporadically find Dark Elves working as adventurers, merchants and such.

Huh? Then is Sherry-san’s village special or unique in some way? Why would there be such old fashioned laws only among her villagers…

“…Aah, sorry. Actually, I’m not really a Dark Elf, you see.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah… I’m actually ‘Nega Elf’. Have you heard of it?”

A sudden revelation. It seems she was, in fact, a race called ‘Nega Elf’.

They were, in short, an even higher species of ‘Dark Elves’. Similar to how ‘High Elves’ were to ‘Elves’.

Generally, there was a notion that if ‘Elves’ were light then ‘Dark Elves’ were shadow, so following that logic, ‘Nega Elves’ formed a similar pair with ‘High Elves’. In other words, they were extremely powerful Elven race.

And I’m not sure whether it was their way of rebelling against ‘Dark Elves’ having uninhibited characters, but they stood out even in this world for their sense of superiority, perhaps even higher than the ‘High Elves’. For that reason, they made a hidden village for themselves and lived in isolation under their strict ‘laws’.

But Sherry-san desired freedom even though she was born as one of them, and as previously mentioned, she escaped from there and has since been working as an adventurer while pretending to be a ‘Dark Elf’.

Though, the familiarity of the race ‘Nega Elves’ was low in itself, and there wasn’t a big difference between a ‘Nega Elf’ and a ‘Dark Elf’, so it wasn’t necessarily a lie.

“But why tell me that so suddenly? Are you sure it was fine to tell me your secret?”

“Sure sure. You didn’t really act any different even after knowing it, and you wouldn’t really go and spread it around, would you?”

“Well, I won’t…”

“Then, everything is fine. I judged it to be fine. Besides, I don’t want to hide things from someone I will be adventuring with from now on.”

“I see…hm? ‘From now’?”

“Eeh, is that a no? I thought we were quite compatible… As adventurers, don’t you think we can improve ourselves while cooperating with each other?”

It seems that she was not expecting that reply and appeared a bit sulky.

Ah, no, it’s not like that… Look, it was just too unexpected for me, okay? I didn’t think she would suddenly say something like that.

Setting aside that we got involved in a serious incident, we’ve really only taken one request together, haven’t we?

“What are you saying, that’s exactly the reason why. Encounters between adventurers are once-in-a-lifetime events, so once you meet someone that interests you even slightly, you have to assertively call out to them! Especially when someone who makes you think “he is the one” is in front of you like now, there is no reason not to invite them, is there? Of course, there isn’t!”

She pumped her fists and emphasised the contradictory conjunction, and she looked quite passionate about it.

As I felt a bit overpowered by her behaviour, she suddenly approached and peeked at my face while saying those words. Wait, close, close! Your face is too close!

As I reflexively bent myself back, she grinned at me and continued without fixing her posture.

“And frankly speaking, I don’t think I can ever meet someone even better than you, Minato-kun. Until now, all I’ve met were people that looked at me with lecherous eyes but had no ability and power back it up, or those that spoke exaggeratedly, which is fine and all, but their thinking and sentiments were too childish… Looks, nature, ability - it’s really hard to find someone that has all three of those.”

“No like, even if that’s the case… and Elk also told me this, but shouldn’t adventurers be a bit more careful in choosing their companions? All the more so if it’s someone like you, Sherry-san, who has a secret or background to hide.”

I mentioned it earlier, but ‘Nega Elves’ were a very rare race, so having it known could easily lead to quite a lot of troublesome problems. Kidnapping, for example.

Well, given her strength, any slave trader that tried to abduct her would have the tables turned on them, but still.

“I don’t have anything to worry regarding that. After we fought together, and even with each other—regardless of them being training matches and a fake battle—I have come to understand you as a person.”

“No, that’s not something you can understand by fighting, you know…”

“There are those that do. Each person has their way of sensing that. In my case, the fastest way of coming to a mutual understanding is by fighting on the battlefield.”

That’s so disturbing… There’s no way people who held interest with you could bear it if they had to fight you one by one just to get to know each other.

Actually, I believe that most people consider fighting to be ‘a result stemming from failing to understand each other’.

“I understand that, of course. I’m well aware that I’m quite an oddball. But in that case… how do you go with your way of ‘mutual understanding’, Minato-kun?”

“Huh, me?”

“Yeah. Since it’s different for each person, you can just measure me up with your own criteria. I was the one who asked for a sham battle at the beginning, so I’ll be glad to keep you company. Should we take a request together or something? Or should we chat in a cafe? Or maybe do an eating tour? Or maybe… you prefer to take it to the bed?”

“Now listen here…”

My heart skipped a beat when she told me that while leaning towards me in all grins… but before the bewilderment, there was one question that ran through my mind.

Now that she said it… Maybe I don’t have any such criteria or sense of values…?

So far, I’ve never really had any criteria in mind when judging someone’s character, huh… Like how they had to be for me to either trust or not trust them. Honestly, it never even crossed my mind.

Even if I were to earn mutual understanding by doing something I liked, like in Sherry-san’s case, I don’t really have a particular hobby…

If I was forced to say… maybe researching new Original Magic? No, talking about that would be too boring, and it’s not like I particularly like studying either.

Sherry-san seemed to have more or less guessed what was going on in my head after seeing the idiotic expression I had, and she drew back with a face that said, “ah, I see now.”

“Hmm, I see… But in that case, how was in with Elk-chan, Minato-kun? It seems that you trust her very much, but how did you come to trust her?”

“With Elk, is it? Yeah, well…”

Right, Elk… I don’t think it stemmed from anything in particular.

Rather, our first meeting developed into something that could easily leave a bad impression instead… Many things happened after that, and I had many opportunities to understand her true intentions and her pure disposition; so I believe that process was what allowed us to understand each other.

And in that case, it really comes down to me having no criteria, huh? I don’t think there was any clear point during all our exchanges so far… where my true feelings suddenly changed or I became able to trust Elk from the bottom of my heart.

“…The course of events, maybe?”

“Oh dear… you couldn’t have been any vaguer.”

For a second, Sherry-san looked like a wife in her third year of marriage who asked her husband “What do you want for dinner?” only to be answered with “Anything is fine,” but a moment later she pulled herself together and added.

“In that case, maybe try finding it right now? You have the opportunity now, and I will cooperate. You can try asking me anything, you know? If it’s now, I’ll really even follow you to the bed if that’s what you want.”

“No, wait a minute, are you seriously saying that?”

“Oh, do I have your interest~? It’s fine, you know~ You don’t have to hold back. Rather, a man and a woman can understand each other better that way instead of being so awkwardly reserved~ So what’s your answer, hmm? Well, you can think about that during our time together from now on, you’ll have as many chances for it as you want.”

“No, like I said… I feel like you already assumed that we will be travelling together…”

“Oh, was I found out? Tee-hee.”

“Sorry for disturbing your ogling, but do you have a moment?”

“Uwah!?”

“Oh my, Elk-chan.”

We heard a sudden voice.

Tracing it back to its source, I found Elk, who had just climbed up on the roof, looking at me with her cute, reproachful eyes.

I feel like it was directed at both me and Sherry-san though.

“What’s up? Do you want to join in? We plan to have quite an extreme conversation from now on.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Eeh, Minato-kun, you are so cold.”

“I don’t really want to join in so you can relax. Minato, there’s a message from Zally who went ahead to scout the area, come here for a bit.”

“? Did something happen?”

“There aren’t any monsters, but the road seems to have been blocked by fallen rocks. It seems there was a suggestion to gather magician-type adventurers and destroy it, but there is the danger of the shock from it causing even more to fall. So Zally has another suggestion…”

“Did he say that I could clean it up by myself?”

“Something like that.”

“…Ok, I got it. I’ll head out.”

Come on, don’t treat people like fucking bulldozers.

Oh well, I’ll still do it. I don’t want to delay it if I can help it.

☆☆☆

“…Fufu.”

“…Why are you looking at me like you wanna say something?”

After Elk saw Minato off, Sherry stared at her with an implicative grin. If we were to further describe it, she was practically beaming with smugginess.

Noticing her gaze, Elk responded with a scornful glare (not that she meant it to be) of her own, one that always made Minato break into a smile.

“Oh nothing~ I was just thinking that this seemed quite challenging.”

“Challenging? Well, yeah, travelling with a moody fellow like him is certainly exhausting…”

“That’s not it, I meant for me.”

“Huh?”

“Umm… How should I put it? It’s like I can understand the brides who worry about the discord with their mother in law, I guess?”

“…And what do you mean by that, exactly?”

Elk’s eyebrow twitched as if she had realised something, and her ‘scornful glare’ sharpened slightly as she responded to her quite calmly without much agitation.

Sherry looked quite surprised, apparently not expecting that kind of response.

“Oh? But your eyes are telling me that you already know the answer, don’t you? Hmm… Well well, you don’t seem to have any openings, huh, Elk-chan? Perhaps Minato-kun’s influence?”

“I’m not really fond of having my question returned with another question.”

“Eh, is that so? Well then, let me be blunt here… Would you mind if I became Minato-kun’s lover?”

“Lovuegh!?”

The moment she heard it, Elk’s serious disposition did a complete turnaround and she choked on her words in a fluster. Perhaps that was still a better outcome as she avoided falling on her face.

Seeing that reaction, Sherry responded in a slightly louder—perhaps just right for the occasion compared to Elk’s reaction—and startled manner.

“…Oh my? And here I was sure you already expected that one…?”

“W-Wha…!? L-Like I could ever imagine that!? I-I was sure you would say something along the lines of wanting to form an adventurer’s party with Minato or ask me or cut my ties with him as I would be a hindrance given my lack of ability or something like that…”

“No no no… I wouldn’t say something like that. It’s not like I hate you, Elk-chan. Besides, I don’t think you are such a hindrance, you know? Rather, I thought it would be you telling me, “don’t you dare come in between me and Minato, you thieving cat!!” or something, you know…”

“As if I would!? I-It’s not like me and Minato are like, uhh! Umm…we are like that in a way but it’s not really that, I mean, rather than that, it’s more like that so it’s different!”

“Sorry, Elk-chan, I didn’t understand a word you said there.”

Elk’s face was dyed in such a red that Sherry had never seen such complexion before… and seeing her panic so much, she could not help but find her adorable.

Moreover, even though her words held no meaning, Elk’s flustered conduct told her all she needed to know.

After ten seconds, when Elk finally became able to speak articulately, she forced herself to settle down and asked her in return.

“T-Then, are you… are you thinking of holding that kind of relationship with Minato?”

“Of course, I also want to be with him in adventurer’s capacity too, okay? He’s super strong and always honest. But I also want Elk-chan to be with us… I’m not trying to monopolise him. However…” She made a suggestive pause. Then she made a big grin, making sure Elk could see it and continued. “Even in a romantic perspective, I think he is a prey I don’t want to let go of. At the very least, if you were to ask me if I thought I could meet someone more ideal than him, my answer would be no.”

“Why? You… have only known him for a few days, right?”

“Oh, it’s nothing so strange. I told him earlier, but our occupation is such that we don’t know when we will die, so our meetings are once-in-a-lifetime events. When you meet the opposite gender that makes you think they are the one for you, it’s only reasonable to treasure that encounter.”

Saying so, Sherry then started to explain her thoughts one by one.

“He is very courteous and unusually humble and honest for an adventurer. But he has a strong heart. He is also my type and his strength is around AAA Rank. There really was no reason not to fall for him. Though, if only he liked drinking and fighting a bit more, even our hobbies would be the same and there would be nothing else I would want.

“Then why not just search for someone who can also cover that ‘bit’?”

“And I’m saying that I don’t think that’s possible, okay? To begin with, I was convinced that someone that convenient could not exist in this world. Try to imagine an adventurer who loves to drink and to fight, yet is sincere, modest and courteous… you can’t, right?”

“…Well, you have a point I guess.”

Speaking of adventurers, it wasn’t like every adventurer had the same standards, but you could still grasp their tendencies in their characters.

When it came to battle-loving adventurers, there were many selfish ones among them. And while this is an extreme example, there was no shortage of adventurers who threw challenges to any strong foes they found, be it humans or monsters.

Moreover, among adventurers who were filled with egoistic people, many cast some of their sincerity and modesty aside. Thus, while not everyone was an egoistic ruffian, those who would obediently listen to what others had to say were not in the majority for sure.

Among them, there were quite a few adventurers who showed the tendency to become even worse based on how high their rank or the power they held was.

But that could only be called supremacism within a fixed order, and it was nothing particularly unusual in this world that left much to be desired in some aspects.

All of that could be summed up as “Individuality”. It was a subject that was nothing more than that.

In addition to them, among the adventurers… there was a little peculiarity when it came to the romantic senses of values and relationships with the opposite sex.

Naturally, just like how it normally was with love, forming teams with the members of the opposite sex whom they often met during quests and such, growing closer and eventually becoming lovers… was one way they went about it.

However, about an equally large number of them openly held romantic relationships with a large number of companions at the same time, and in the end, they tended to take one of their lovers as their spouse.

Minato who had lived his previous life in present-day Japan was greatly perplexed about that to this day, but this was simply such a morally hazardous world.

Thus, going back to the matter in question, both Elk and Sherry were naturally aware of that, however… their case was instead a rare exception where they had found their fated one before they reached that stage.

And perhaps her personality played a factor, but this was the reason why Sherry didn’t limit her assertive advances on him alone but even to those around him.

And at the same time, she was under the conviction that the place she wanted to stand was already occupied by Elk. But instead of deciding to give up on him, she boldly suggested settling on the somewhat stimulating standing of a “Lover”.

“Well, that’s how it is. Even I think that this is a once in a lifetime encounter… So I just can’t see myself giving up on him in either sense~ So yeah, I want to get along with you guys, but I thought I’d greet my senpai first.”

“S-Senpai…”

“You are one, aren’t you?”

Sherry responded in all grins. Even a stranger could tell how teasy she was being.

Nevertheless, Elk could not respond to it.

After all, setting aside the meanness behind her words, she simply could not deny any of it.

“I will pay my respect in that regard… but honestly speaking, I’m serious here. I realise that this is abrupt… but I’m definitely not letting him get away. Ah, but I will not try to eliminate you or anything, Elk-chan, so you can relax. But I can’t say that I won’t push you aside~”

“…Oh really.”

Following that, Sherry told Elk she was going to check out the situation and dashed towards the front side of the caravan where Minato ran while waving her hand at her.

Elk who remained behind simply continued to glare at her with her scornful eyes, perhaps not feeling like saying anything… or perhaps she could not find the right words to say.

However… traces of displeasure and anxiety were present on her face ever so slightly.

☆☆☆

Meanwhile, the person in question from their gossip was currently…

“YAH…YAH…YAH…YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH… HIIIIYAH!!”

Peeep!

“Hahaha… I already knew this, but seeing you do it in front of my eyes really leaves me speechless,” said Zally while sweating from his forehead. He had his characteristic smile that was a mix of amazement and admiration.

Before him were Minato and Alba cooperating to clear the fallen rocks, steadily making way for the caravan.

The way they went about it was quite simple.

Minato had his ‘Staff’ that looked like a laundry pole retrieved from his belt and was mowing down everything in his path into the tiniest fragments.

Following that, Alba was using magic to produce a gale that blew off those broken fragments and moved them to the roadside.

While their work was analogue, they worked in a speedy and lively manner and managed to clear up the rocks blocking the road in the blink of an eye.

“Whew… is this good?”

“Yeah, that’s enough. Good work, Minato-kun. Here’s something to drink.”

Zally held a big glass cup in his hand filled with the juice they received from the Dryad-chan’s. This was quite a blessing.

“Thanks. Good grief, using people as bulldozers…”

“I’m not sure what that ‘booldoozer’ is supposed to be, but you honestly saved us here. No, really, Minato-kun, you are such a handy guy.”

“And I’m telling you not to refer to people like they are some handy goods.”

“Sorry sorry. Oh right, it’s not really something to thank you for it, but shall I let you in on an interesting story? It happened just recently, you see… I got ahold of this information just a day before our departure, but it seems that there was a change of personnel within the army of Volka, you know?”

“Huh? A change?”

Being asked that, Zally continued his story with his natural fluent tone.

According to his story, it seemed that the personnel change was linked with the current ‘North’ incident.

The ‘North’ had their crime exposed this time, but with various other points to the story, they ended up being the pitiable ones.

Ever since they started to have hardships with their life a few decades ago, they seemed to have committed various small crimes that they could not expose to others.

According to Zally’s light investigation, there were several cases where the ‘North’ was believed to be involved when it came to the highway robbery and other related incidents.

And this was just his hypothesis, but most probably, part of their hunters also acted as robbers with survival as their just cause and attacked the nearby travellers and caravans over and over.

And they did not aim for the money itself, but materials and food instead.

Moreover, the current incident revealed that they even had connections to the kidnappers… so perhaps they were involved in various illicit matters of that kind, too.

Thus, the ‘North’ was such a self-sufficient and isolated village, getting themselves involved in such business and stubbornly rejecting diplomacy. But in reality, their limit was already in sight since a long time ago.

And then they forcibly turned the ‘South’, one they had parted with 90 years ago, into their enemy, forming a sense of solidarity and dodging the issue at hand with the excuses like “we were only following our traditional and stoic lifestyles, so we are not in the wrong”… only to suffer a failure so big that even that excuse stopped working.

Well, it would be quite impossible for them even if they sought to form relations with outsiders at this late in the game; they knew neither diplomacy nor how to make money, after all… Saying something like that wouldn’t be indiscreet, would it?

And the punishment for those hunters and the citizens of the ‘North’ was already decided, it seems.

The hunters would be normally taken away by the army and face their punishments after their trials were held.

Their charges mainly consisted of using dangerous drugs to make the monsters rampage and using them to damage ‘Nonett’… as well as the abduction of the village head’s daughter and coercion.

Oh, and there were also those various other evil deeds hidden in the annals of the history of dozens of years. It seems that even those would be taken into consideration during their trials.

Although, when it came to the (attempted) abduction of the Dryad-chans, it seems that the case couldn’t be built upon it as the Dryads were still considered ‘monsters’. However, they would still take the malice behind their actions in mind.

I’m having a little difficulty agreeing to that but that’s the way it is, I suppose.

“Well, this is just my prediction, but roughly all of the perpetrators will probably be executed. The current case is too extreme to shift the blame to others, and there are basically none who could pass it off by saying they were ordered to do so.”

“Now that you said it, I guess the sailor is the principal offender, huh. So what about the ones who can avoid the execution?”

“They would be forced into labour in refugee camps or turned into crime slaves… I suppose? Either way, it still would not end up well for them… but I guess that in itself could be a better outcome.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I mentioned it earlier, but these people have basically no ‘common sense’ to live outside. Elk-chan keeps saying that you lack common sense at every opportunity she gets, but their common sense fatally lacks with a different vector compared to that…probably.”

“So what you are saying is that they can’t step into society without a sufficient study, right? I see your point. But that’s pretty cynical if you ask me.”

“I suppose. Also, people of the ‘North’ who did not participate in this operation will probably be taken to different places too.”

“Huh? And why is that?”

It’s not like I’m defending them… but there were also innocent people involved here.

Given that it is a village, it won’t be just hunters there but powerless women, children and old people… so why would they be taking all of them away? Is this like some collective responsibility taken to extremes?”

“Hmm… It’s not like they will be punished or anything. Well, in a word, it’s something like sheltering them.”

“Sheltering?”

“Yea. I mean, you know how their village has ceased its function.”

This too was simply his prediction based on similar cases.

Just like that, when the villages fell into harsh conditions where they could not properly function or procure food, the country or region they belonged to would take measures against it.

The reason for that was simple. It would be troublesome if the villagers that had reached their limits degraded themselves into robbers and caused trouble in the surroundings.

It would still do if they could help it somehow by bettering their administration, but when the entire region where they lived was in such a bad condition, they would be half-forced into migrating elsewhere. And also, they would be treated as refugees.

They will be taken away from their familiar lands, and they would have to live under the administrative management, but their living would be supported up to a degree, so it wasn’t that bad of a deal for them.

Moreover, they would still be able to remain behind if they desired it too strongly, but in that case, the administration would cut off any and all support for them. Although if they did something problematic afterwards, then that was it for them. They would be moved forcibly from there and this time they would face the ‘punishment’. What awaited them was either slavery or the refugee camp.

Naturally, this also applied to the current matter of the ‘North’.

They had not a shred of common sense. Their economic condition was not even worth mentioning. Their environment was the worst. And to make it worse, they had criminal records. Their treatment was already set in stone, that was Zally and his comrades’ conclusion.

“Their way of living is directly linked to environmental destruction so they can’t really be overlooked. It wouldn’t be a joke if they went somewhere else and burned down a forest, so the entire village will probably be migrated in one go. Afterwards, maybe… they will be made to be a working force under the pretext of social education.”

“So the actual village of the ‘North’ will be deconstructed and gone, huh. A pity.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. Their behaviour wasn’t good, and the able men are… you get it, right?”

Yeah, its between slavery, forced labour and execution for them.

Rather, several, or rather… several dozens of them had already left this world behind due to getting devoured by monsters, slain by Sherry-san and various such factors… so the village was kinda already doomed.

“Now, we finally got around to the topic of personnel change in the army.”

“Hmm? Oh, right, we were talking about.”

“It seems that a squad has been dispatched from Volka’s army do deal with that ‘North’ matter… but the one at the top of that squad is apparently Suula-san who helped us the last time.”

“Oh, really?”

Wow, yet another familiar name popped up.

Suula-san helped us during the ‘Blood Maple’ incident.

She was on a rescue mission in the ‘Crimson Forest’ with a squad that mainly consisted of newbies, and it was there she met with me, Elk, Zally, Alba and two hoodlum adventurers whose faces I’m not sure I remember.

Things happened after that and we managed to turn the situation around together from the brink of death, after which we all grew quite closer. But I see… so she is in charge of this matter, huh?

“What’s more, it seems she is being promoted now. The administration, negotiations with the village and other parts included in this matter seem to be serving as something like a test for her promotion.”

“Test? So you are saying that if she deals with this matter without problems, she will be promoted?”

“Well, she was promoted even without it. I suppose this incident simply coincided with it, but if she performs well it would count towards her achievements, so perhaps those bigshots were thinking that doing so would give her more prestige for assuming the seat of the new company commander. She is also ranking up to a Captain, it seems.”

“Heh… So Suula-san had quite a nice success in like, huh? That’s amazing.”

If I remember correctly, a company commander is one rank higher than the platoon commander.

And a Captain was… welp, I forgot about this one. How great was it again?

Actually, thinking about it now, I don’t really know the system of ranks and such of this world’s military. I even thought that ‘platoon commander’ was a rank in itself.

But yeah, that’s not really a ‘rank’ but a ‘position’, huh. I really should study up on that later.

And so, it seems that Suula-san’s squad is heading towards ‘Minette’ and ‘North’ by a different route from us, so we wouldn’t be passing by each other. Quite a shame.

As we were in the middle of such discussion, someone from the cart called out at us to get on as they were about to proceed ahead, thus we decided to take a rest and entrust the rest to the horses.

☆☆☆

While we were attacked by thieves and monsters along the way, we managed to safely arrive at Volka.

After we broke up, reported individual achievements to the guild and received our rewards… I sent Elk and Alba to the inn ahead of me while I headed towards a certain place.

In order to meet with a certain someone… just as Irene-san instructed.

I’ll be going back in time with this, but back when Irene-san visited the ‘Flower Valley’ with Will-niisan, listened to our story and returned back… there was one thing she told me after that conversation was over.

“…By the way, Minato-kun. We talked about it earlier… but you used quite a strange power there, right? The rumour has been going around even among the adventurers…”

“Oh, you mean ‘Dark Joker’? Well, even mom restricted using it so much it barely avoided the ban… but I feel like it could’ve ended badly if I did not use it there…”

“Oh, no, I’m not trying to blame you or anything. It’s just… I was surprised that you could use magic so powerful. Lilyn told me you were still not quite there when it came to magic, you see.”

“True, I’m not very good at it due to the problem of talent and such, but because of that, I thoroughly trained the techniques within the scope I could reach. Although…”

“Although?”

“…I got some unexpected help. And because of that, I was able to use it even better than I usually would.”

With those words, I took out a certain item from my pocket… and showed it to her.

She appeared a bit surprised, but she instantly realised what I was trying to say. I see, so rather than being… an accomplice, she realised what was going on, I suppose?

Perhaps even the fact that I also could not see the full picture of it.

“…I see. Then I suppose there’s no longer a need to hide things from you. For both me and her.”

“Then, I guess there would be no problem if I go to ask about it after this request is over? I’m not really thinking that it’s some weird scheme… but I’m still bothered by it.”

“Rather, it’s better if you go. It would be too late to do it after something happens. If you need an appointment, I’ll give her a word.”

And that was the gist of our discussion…

☆☆☆

“So you come straight to me after arriving, huh?”

“Yup. About this, and… also because Irene-san told me there were things I should know.”

I was in the same old Malrus Association.

Right after I came back, I went to meet her - Noel Co Malrus, my sister (one of the many) and the client of the previous request.

My sister was awaiting me and she seemed to have already expected or realised why I was here for, so she skipped the needless preface and I also got right down to business.

I took out one of the key items of this topic, the ‘Black Pass’ from my pocket and placed it on the table.

“About this, I was surprised to find out that it has quite a few functions that you haven’t told me before. But it did help me, so thank you.”

During the Naga incident, she gave me this pass case with “Disposing of it is a pain so I’ll give it to you”, but it seems that it didn’t end up in my hands because of such simple reasons. I’m not really sure what it is… but I know that it isn’t simply some convenient item.

This happened while I was recuperating at the ward after I used ‘Dark Joker’.

That was quite a troublesome ability ever since the beginning of practising it. It came with a heavy burden, and it was hard to properly control it… as well as many other reasons that did not allow me to use it frequently. That’s why mom prohibited the use of it.

One of the reasons was the stagnation of the magic power and magic particles inside my body.

After using ‘Dark Joker’, my inner magical power becomes a bit harder to control for some time. It does not exactly run wild, but I can’t exhibit my full power during that time.

In plain terms, it’s called a poor operation of the ‘Elemental Blood’, and because of that, I take longer to recover from injuries and illnesses.

If it was me in my (magically) top condition, it would only take me a few days to make a complete recovery even from comminuted fractures, but in this condition, the efficiency worsens quite a bit.

That’s why waiting for this condition to subside is linked to ‘making recovery’ for me, but its symptoms can take from a few hours to a few days to heal. It changes based on how long I use ‘Dark Joker’ and how much I strain my body during it.

When I used it for as long as I possibly could, the ‘stagnation’ lasted for over a week. Incidentally, it happened when mom snapped and erased part of the forest.

That period is a fatal weakness for me who is fighting mainly by utilising the magic within the body.

Of course, it’s not that I can’t use magic power at all, I can fight more or less… but if I had to say whether I could display my usual power, my answer would be no.

That’s why ‘Dark Joker’ became a forbidden move.

I managed to settle the fight relatively quickly this time around, so I thought it would take me from half to one day to heal… but surprisingly enough, by the time I ended the battle and rested on the bed, I was already half healed of it.

And there was something I noticed during that time.

That is, when I was holding this ‘Pass’ the speed of clearing up the stagnation of my magical power was an order of magnitude higher.

This thing that was on my belt was noticeably speeding up my recovery based on how close it was to me… so as a test I tried putting it farther away and I could sense the speed of recovery gradually decreasing and finally returned to normal, slow rate.

Then I had a thought and grabbed it from the belt and slept while directly holding it in my hand… and only an hour later most of my stagnation had cleared up.

I was already familiar with this phenomenon. It was just like that time from my training days when mom brought out some unfamiliar magic item from the depth of the storehouse and healed me after I used ‘Dark Joker’.

It turned out that something similar to that was installed within this ‘Pass’.

And that chance of that being a mere coincidence… was quite unlikely.

In other words, this ‘Pass’ was… not some leftover that ended in my hands, but instead it was created with the assumption to be given to me… to aid me with its system that helped recover from ‘Dark Joker’.

After I told that along with Irene-san’s suggestion to talk with her, Noel-neesan stayed quiet for a while, then opened her mouth.

“…I see now. To think you would notice the difference in recovery speeds with just bodily sensation… Neither mom nor I expected that.”

“Ah, so mom was involved here, after all.”

“…Since Irene said that, I suppose there is no problem with telling you. Alright then, I’ll talk. After all, if you don’t fully understand what it is… even simply carrying that ‘Pass’ with you could invite danger.”

☆☆☆

To get straight to the point, this ‘Pass’ was apparently created to monitor me.

I don’t really understand how it works, but it has a feature that records the information about things such as my magic power… and every time I came to this ‘association’ Noel-neesan was extracting and analyzing that data.

As to why they went out of their way to create and give me such a beyond-the-norm item (It seems it cost them over 200 gold coins to make it. Holy cow…) even from this world’s perspective… it was apparently because mom judged that my future could get a little dangerous.

According to what Noel-neesan said, during my training in the sea of trees, I have come to develop in quite a non-standard way.

It’s a bit weird to say it myself, but from the age of 7 to 10 I trained mostly in the ‘Magic Arts’ and by the age of 12, I was already more or less peerless among the monsters of the sea of trees. In other words, you could say that at that point in time I was already A rank in strength, only a bit short of AA.

Just that alone would’ve been more than enough to become the target of vigilance. But that mother of mine kinda shrugged it off with, “Well, he’s my son after all”.

But I had a special trait that even she could not help but be vigilant about… and that was my abnormality caused by holding the memories of my previous life.

I started developing magic at the age of 4 and managed to complete my first original magic during the same year. If I remember correctly, the first magic I created was… that ‘Finger-snap Ignition’. Yeah… it was just a joke magic.

But with that my interest grew further, and I started creating every possible original magic I could think of under mom’s supervision and assistance… all while completely ignoring their usefulness for me.

And by the time I reached 16 and became independent, the amount of magic I created, including the ones I could not use…was in hundreds… and about 10% of them were banned by mom.

This fact was the most abnormal of all, Nee-san said.

Normally, when a researcher started developing new magic… their research and development could span from several months to several years, and in some cases, even decades, and that would result in the production of a single magic. It was apparently not rare for some researchers to dedicate their entire lives to the production of one.

Well, they were just like the scientist and researchers from my past life - producing theories based on past examples, carefully investigating it and performing small scale experiments over and over… they put a vast amount of work into it.

Moreover, unlike modern Japan, there were neither computers nor tools for digital experiments or even software where they could look up those theses, so the hard work they put in to make up for it was in a different league compared to the modern scientists.

There were no machines that would work on auto, so everything was needed to be done by human hands… and when it’s like that, the mistakes and such that follow are more serious and more frequent compared to doing it with the machines.

And they can’t exactly see theses and other research data whenever they wish either. They had to either go to where that thesis or its duplicate was stored and browse it there, or order it to be delivered to them. Either way, it would take both time and effort. There’s no express home delivery or postal service here in this world, after all.

When they finished using it they had to return it and borrow it again when needed… that was basically it.

There are various other parts to the story, but to sum everything up, ‘research’ in this world normally required hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times more time and effort than present-day Japan.

And yet, me from those training days completely ignored that fact.

I, of course, did my research with my own power, but the ‘uncertain’ aspects of it that usually required experiments to ascertain results were covered by my knowledge from the past life, so naturally, the time and effort it would take were significantly cut down.

I did not refer to any past data or anything of the sort either. If I had to say, the most I read were the books from my house. I did not count on any data whatsoever and pretty much created everything, with the theory and all, from scratch by myself, so the time and effort for that were also completely cut out.

And if that wasn’t enough, as I was a big anime and game addict in my past life, I had that ‘inventiveness’ that even the most experienced researchers lacked. Using that as my weapon, I kept on developing more and more things that clashed with common sense.

In this world, you could count the annual discovery of new magic. As it seems, even the fairly big research institutions of big countries considered 2-3 new ones a year an abundant harvest.

Well, if we are talking not about a ‘new magic’ but an improved, ‘newish’ version of the existing magic, then there were a bit more of those every year, and many illegal magics were apparently also being studied in the underworld so they were actually a bit more in number in reality.

And in this world where discovering one or two of those in a country per year was the norm… within the 12 years of my training, the amount of ‘new magic’ that mother deemed ‘fully developed’, including the forbidden ones, were approximately… over 600.

Doing simple calculations, what would have taken countries several hundred years of research I did in just over 10 years. Not to mention the fact that all that was done by a child who wasn’t even 20 years old and grew up in an isolated environment like the sea of trees.

As expected, it seems even mom couldn’t simply close her eyes on this by saying, “He’s my son, after all”.

Noel-neesan sighed. It seems she was told, “…You see, Mommy found it quite fun in the middle of it, and we ended up getting too into it together… and the situation was already crazy by the time I noticed it”.

It seems the fact that I held the memories of my past life hasn’t been exposed… but she could not help but fear whether my abnormal talent could one day take a wild turn towards the wrong way, regardless of how much she educated me during the time we were together.

However, she thought that she could not always keep me at her side, so after I had turned into an independent adventurer, she had entrusted Noel-neesan with my monitoring and assistance.

And to make that easier… she used that occasion to provide funds and had them create the monitoring and combat assisting item that was the ‘Remodelled Pass’ and had it delivered to me.

And looking at the observation results taken from it, they observed whether I did something reckless and harmed my magic power or body in some way.

In order to monitor whether I created some dangerous new magic again without permission… though I had no one to consult now that she was gone from my side.

And so, that seems to be the rough story behind the ulterior motives Noel-neesan had when she made contact with me.

But I didn’t really think much of it after listening.

The fact that it came with a monitoring function meant that she could not trust me, so I was a little bit sad… but when I pointed that out, she told me that all that was done out of worry for me.

Besides, I indeed produced irregular results(?) that were pretty much asking for this to happen. Though I was not aware of that fact.

But I did not mind it all that much, as I was already aware that I carried the risk that not just mom or Noel-neesan but other people like that would be able to see.

That’s why, after I heard the entire story, I did not blame her in any way, and even decided to continue using this ‘pass’ and let myself monitored as I have been until now. After all, the part about the ‘Black Pass’ having discount and preferential treatment benefits was true.

Hearing my answer, Nee-san was surprised as expected, but she seemed to have concluded that it was fine as long as it didn’t turn problematic, so she accepted with a “…I see”.

Then after thinking silently about something for a while…

“…In that case, Minato… Let your sister tell you one last thing as a bonus.”

“? What is it?”

“You have heard the word ‘Daydreamer’ from mother at least once, haven’t you?”

Oh, yeah, I have.

If I’m not mistaken, mom’s old comrades gave her that somewhat shameful nickname for being a dreamer and for being unable to see the reality.

Just like how I also was until recently—not that I can declare with certainty that I’m no longer one—it was a nickname made up of mixed feelings of criticism and exasperation towards her for being unable to recognize reality for what it was.

However, according to Noel-neesan… the ‘Daydreamer’ hid yet another meaning inside it… or rather, that was the true meaning behind it when Irene-san gave it to her.

“Being a dreamer and unable to distinguish between reality and daydreams, and bringing those naive thoughts that are nothing but daydreams into reality… interpreting it like that is not wrong. However…”

While I was admiring the fact that Irene-san was the originator of that nickname, Noel-neesan said that in a meek tone, and after a short pause, continued.

“More accurately, the ‘Daydreamer’ that Irene called mom… did not point towards a simple dreamer… but instead towards someone who, due to having an abnormal level of power, could turn what were supposed to be mere daydreams into reality with their pure strength, you see… Just like our mother who sank an island into the sea 200 years ago just to save one friend.” After squeezing out those words, Noel-neesan looked at me with quite an indescribable expression and added, “Please don’t become like that, I’m begging you…”.

☆☆☆

“By the way, Noel-neesan, I’d like to train and become a bit stronger so… do you know any good place to train? If possible, I’d like it to be somewhere I can practice the development of new magic in a way that would not damage the surroundings.”

“…Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“Oh no, I heard every word, that’s why I’m just asking for your advice.”

“Really now?”

Well, I did take her worries and caution towards me not to go too wild deeply to my heart, but this and that are different things.

During that fight with the ‘Diabolos’ at the Flower Valley… I was made to realize that there were many a strong monster in the world, and I had to grow much, much stronger.

That’s why, even without ambitions or dangerous thoughts, I want to be greedy with ‘Strength’ itself so that I could be ready for anything when I actually need it.

“…But one would seldom encounter opponents where AAA strength is not enough.”

“That’s true, but I actually did encounter that one. Moreover, for the past few months… or rather, after my debut as an adventurer, I’ve been constantly getting wrapped up one trouble after another and fighting with dangerous fellows…”

“…Well, you have a point.”

Let’s see… There was the A-ranked ‘Naga’ and ‘Exceed Subspecies’, and this time it was the AA ‘Tropical Tyrant’ and ‘Diabolos’ that was assumed to be in the AAA… And I haven’t even been an adventurer for half a year.

Was I actually born under a troublemaker star when I was reincarnated or something?

Well, my main reasons are my premonition and intuition, as well as curiosity… but there shouldn’t be any downsides to becoming stronger. Even if just to protect those around me when push comes to shove. I don’t want to regret, saying “if only I was stronger”.

As all of that was the plain truth, I spoke everything in her face… and Noel-neesan looked at me with quite a complicated expression.

It’s not like I don’t understand where you are coming from, but did you really have to say that at this timing? - it seemed like she wanted to say that.

Sorry, I become quite unable to read the mood when the necessity arises, you see.

She understood that I would not back out from this and fell into thought with a sigh.

“Well, it’s not really a bad thing to aim for that… but it’s like, let alone here, there aren’t that many places in the entire continent where a AAA rank like you would be able to train to grow even stronger, Minato, you know?”

“Ahh, so that’s how it really is, huh?”

Well, I sort of expected an answer like this. Rather, I even found myself agreeing to it.

After all, I am who I am now because of my training in an overly lawless area like the ‘Gradwell Forest’ that not even an army can approach. If I want to become even stronger, the basic idea would be that I have to go somewhere even more dangerous than that sea of trees.

It would not serve as training if there weren’t monsters above A or even AA ranks.

There was no way something so convenient could exist nearby this human habitat.

“For the current you, the only just right place to train would be the ‘area’ that you would have to search for. And even that would require you to go to a place like an unexplored region and search around while camping there for days to come.”

“Given those conditions, do you have any place in mind?”

“Even if I had, you couldn’t exactly go there. And Minato, your sense of direction is not the best, right?”

Indeed.

And well, there’s no way I could go and tell elk “I wanna train so follow me” and take her to a region that’s even more dangerous than the ‘sea of trees’… All doors are closed for me, I suppose.

“In the first place, do you have any vision of in what way are you trying to become strong?”

“Ah, well… now that you’ve said it.”

“Don’t just agree on it. You aren’t some 10-year-old kid anymore who just “wants to become strong” without any real idea how… Though, in your case, you were already A rank at that age, huh… Anyway, there wouldn’t be any satisfactory results if you don’t even have a good picture of what you want to do in mind, right? During your time in the sea of trees, it seems mom covered that part and gave you some kind of objectives.”

“…You are certainly right.”

She’s right… my way of thinking was too immature here.

It seems I need to give more thoughts to the ‘how’ part from now on instead of going about it vaguely. I need to train to eliminate my weaknesses by precisely focusing on them.

And to do that, I naturally have to have a full grasp on my weaknesses and flaws, but I’m not really having great results on this front.

If I were to speak of my biggest weakness, the first thing that comes to my mind would be my poor skill for using magic beyond a certain scope due to the lack of talent… but other than that, the weaknesses that would improve my situation were I to—and able to—eliminate them, would be…

Yeah, I honestly can’t think of any… Perhaps because mom made sure to train me so I wouldn’t have any left.

But having a precise grasp on them is an indispensable process to decide my objective… And there’s no guarantee of success, but I have no choice but to take time and try finding them by myself.

I let my sister know about my current plan, and she suddenly muttered as if she remembered something.

“…Yes, that would be good… no problems with that. There’s a perfect occasion too. Minato, I might have an idea about how to discover your weaknesses, you know?”

“Huh, really? How?”

I caught signs of an unexpectedly good response, so I ended up bending my body over towards her, but she did not mind that and continued.

“Actually, this is something that happens annually… Twice a year, the adventurer’s guild sponsors something like an event for the newbie adventurers to train jointly. It’s in the style of a training camp, and it comes with a full service where skilled adventurers personally coach various techniques and even give advice on covering their shortcomings.”

“Consider me interested.”

“But well, it’s one thing if it’s exploration techniques, but you wouldn’t really learn anything there in terms of battle ability. The lecturer adventurers’ ranks are mostly C or B and A at best. However, if your goal is just to discover your weaknesses…”

“…then there’s meaning in participating, huh?”

“Well, better than nothing, I would say. Even so, I think it wouldn’t be so bad if you let other people take a look at them once, right? If you weren’t able to discover them in your 16 years of life, then I’m sorry to say it like this, but you probably won’t in the future either… And it would also benefit Elk-chan’s training, right?”

“True… Can I apply at the guild?”

“You should be. But there’s still a month left before it is held, so you should do something else in the meantime.”

“I see. Thanks for the advice, Nee-san.”

Joint training… so there was an event like that, I had no idea. Indeed, if it’s that place where there should appear people with leadership ability close to professionals, they might be able to discover and point out my weaknesses. The parts I’m unable to see on my own.

However, do they even exist, given that even that mother of mine was unable to discover? And would B or C class people be able to discover those? As expected, I’m having doubts about it… but oh well, I won’t lose anything by trying it.

I can’t seem to do anything about it anyway, so let’s just try checking out that ‘Joint Training’ thingy.

According to Nee-san, it would serve as a nice crash course for Elk, too… It’s a good chance for her to get an opinion about it from the experts too. In the end, there really are no cons in participating.

After that, Nee-san appeared as if she had remembered something and said.

“Ah, that reminds me… Elk-chan seems to have become quite strong as of late, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s already at a level where she can solo things like Little Beasts. She had reached the C rank as well. And her magic skill seems to have improved too.”

“Now that’s quite the speedy improvement there. Wasn’t she an E rank just 2 months ago?”

“Lately she and Alba had improved so much it even left me surprised. And the last time, she even caught the ‘Telepathy’ of the Dryads and Alraune. How should I say, she’s the embodiment of possibilities. All her hidden talent made its appearance here… huh, what’s wrong, Nee-san?”

At that point, I finally noticed that she was staring blankly at me.

She looked surprised… or perhaps even dumbfounded. Kinda cute, actually.

“…She heard the telepathy? Of a ‘Dryad’?”

“Yup. It seems she has a talent for that. And it’s a really rare one.”

“…Really? Now that was surprising.”

…?

Somehow, the way she said it made it feel like there was more to the story… Was there something on her mind, I wonder?

But when I asked that, she just replied with “it’s nothing”.

Setting aside how true that was, there didn’t seem to be anything else I needed to talk about with her, so I decided to take my leave for today.

Well, it made me curious, but if it was something bad then she would’ve properly told me about it, so I’ll just let it go for now.

☆☆☆

…And so, when I returned to the inn… an unexpected development awaited me there.

“Uhh… and why are you here again, Sherry-san?”

“Oh my, did I forget to mention it? Look, we are going to deepen our bond from now on, so it’s better if we get to know each other, right? So, I decided to start from the superficial things, you see?”

“…She moved to the room next door. It seems she already planned it ahead before the Caravan got to Volka.”

Elk explained it to me with a face that really lacked any amusement.

By the time she and Alba returned to the inn, Sherry-san had already finished all the procedures and came to her to greet her ‘neighbour’.

In other words, she managed to move all her luggage from her former inn in this short time, it seems… Her ability to take action is really something else. No time like the present, huh?

And that Sherry-san was looking at me with her characteristic impish smile.

“It’s because I was thinking of getting close to the two of you not just as adventurers but in private lives too. If possible, I’d like us to take requests together and spend our free time by chatting and drinking together… And doing this was the best option, don’t you agree?”

“But all of that was your own judgement, wasn’t it? That’s quite a bother if you ask us.”

“Ehh? I don’t intend to give you trouble. I might intrude on your daily training juuust a tad bit though.”

I don’t know, I feel like I’d be assaulted by a flaming magic sword every morning.

“Besides,” Sherry san narrowed her eyes and drew closer to my side. After getting close to the point that any more and something would be touching me, she gave me a wide grin and continued, “what I said on the carriage wasn’t a joke in any way, okay? If you like, you can visit my room tonight… or would you prefer if I visited yours instead?”

“Huh!?”

B-By that, she means, uhh…

I lowered my gaze a bit below…towards those two plump bulges that Elk didn’t have—I mean, I wasn’t complaining about that but still—without helping it.

I mean… she told me that at this distance, so that was unavoidable. I think.

“W-well, I uhhh…I mean…”

“Okay okay, stop right there! Flirting in broad daylight in someone else’s room! Okay, you finished your greetings so, shoo, shoo!”

“Kyah!? Aah, Elk-chan you bullyyy!”

While I was at a loss for words, Elk whose temper was visibly growing worse inserted herself between us and pulled Sherry-san away from me, and dragged her towards the door without stopping.

Although, Sherry-san was all smiles as she was dragged away.

After that, Elk slammed the door shut and looked at me with a gaze that was about 50% more powerful compared to the usual.

“…I think you already know it, but don’t fall for such obvious honey traps, you hear…? You aren’t going to say that I alone am not enough for you, are you…?”

“Y-Yes…ma’am.”

That was the only reply I could muster.

“Oh well… I suppose this was expected, the conquering difficulty is quite high. But that’s exactly why there’s worth aiming for it! Fufuh, I will get closer to you, just you wait…♪”

We heard that yell from beyond the door… what kind of conquering are you thinking there, huh?

She was probably stroking the scabbard of her sword in the process since it was accompanied by clanking sounds.

Now that’s scary… in more than one way.

Good grief, it seems it will get quite tough and busy for me from now on, in a different sense compared to before…

☆☆☆

That day, just before dusk.

“Hmm, I see. So you recommended Minato-kun to take part in the ‘Joint Training’ huh…”

This was the Guildmaster’s office. There, under the twilight… two women were having a conversation.

One of them was the owner of this room… Irene. She was the Guildmaster of the adventurer’s guild, and also held the highest influence, enough to make even the feudal lord of Volka kneel before her.

And another one was the president of the Malrus Association - Noel, who also held enough influence to be easily ranked next to her.

Noel visited Irene, having something to discuss, and sat face to face with her with a docile expression without even touching the tea and snacks before her.

“Just so you know, there is almost no one in the entire Volka who is good enough to teach the current Minato-kun how to fight, okay? And several super high-level adventurers who can are all out of town now. Oh, also, I’m thinking of giving him AA or AAA rank now.”

“Before that, those strong people you mentioned are all selfish individuals who wouldn’t even consider it if you asked them to act as a lecturer, right?”

“Indeed. As expected of an experienced person, you get it well.”

Irene tried to tease her but Noel’s mood did not change at all.

“…Let’s leave the idle chatter here and get back to the main topic. Do you consent to my earlier proposal?”

“Of course. Such a doting sister, nice, nice. Did you free up your schedule then?”

“There would be no problems for a little less than a month after its opening.”

“I’ll arrange your participation as the old girl of the guild. But still… it already reached the point where even you are making a move… It happened much faster than I expected.”

“I agree. But his growth would just keep on accelerating if I left him be. If I want to beat him into shape, I think the faster I do it the better. After all, at this point in time… I’m still stronger than him.”

“Besides, you are the only one who could teach him the techniques he needs now. Hehe… Still, I’m looking forward to it, for you to go all out after all this time,” she paused for a bit and added, “go and rampage to your heart’s content… Former S Rank - The ‘Great Heavenly Flame’ Noel-chan~♪.”

To her smiling words, Noel responded with only a curt nod.

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