Published at 25th of March 2019 11:40 pm

Chapter 37 - Melancholy of『Black Lion』

Today too, wind-cutting sounds reverberate in the vacant land. It was sparring with Elk, which had already become a daily routine.

Even the recently increased onlookers don’t know about this place, so practicing here is just alright!.

It’s that usual sight, but there are some things different from before.

First, there is a spectator. Well, the spectator is only Alva.

At the time I am about to leave the house (sometimes even before), it keeps on staring at me intensely. As if saying『Take me too!』

Well, I can leave it at inn, but there is no harm even if it comes here so I take it out here. ……Recently, another reason has been added.

And recently, in non-combat times it rests on my shoulder or sometimes on top of my head. At the time of training and battle, it rests on some appropriate tree in the vicinity.

And the other thing that changed is, Elk. Recently, though gradually, she has gotten able to move more better compared to before.

A week before, her battle posture was full of holes, but now, though it can’t be said perfect by any standards, it sure has improved.

Her way of taking balance and movements of legs have improved, her style of hit-and-run has gotten to the point of being conducted with just a single step. The careless jump I pointed out the other day is also almost gone.

Her powerless attacks by just swinging the dagger have gotten better, she is now able to give out an attack with enough back power to follow-up.

The dagger coming at my throat while making an beautiful arc was considerably different from before in speed, sharpness and even power.

As a bonus, her means of attack is not only dagger, she even uses elbow or knees at the right time, increasing her attack frequency, coincidentally the gaps in her form vanished.

I just explained it quite simply, but this is, in truth, quite a great thing.

After all it was only three weeks before, when we both started this training.

Showing this much progress in such less time isn’t something a normal person can do?

In the first place training like this show results little by little that the person themself don’t become aware of it.

Marathon and Boxing, from Earth can be considered great examples.

Running for months, years, and then finally the time is reduced by several seconds only,

Or Punching the punching bag tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of times and then finally the power of fist is slightly increased.

Like that, the things that take lots of time to complete, Elk did it in just three weeks with visible results already.

Though she has her technical foundations built hard, but still this is impossible without a great talent potential. NO MATTER HOW YOU THINK IT.

If the current Elk fought against a crowd of goblin alone, she would be able to insta-kill five or six goblins without even getting scratched.

Side-by-side she is even training about magic -Though I’m able to do much help here-, going at this rate she is sure to grow even more than I had thought.

With a little more training, she might even fight against Little Beasts.

The studying of that『Dagger』is also finished and it’s gaining it original shine little by little, depending on the power of magic, she might be fight even more powerful demons.

「But, still there’s a long way to go」

「-Wha!?」

I dodged the dagger attacking towards my throat, and hold her arm.

Using that momentum, I used the one-armed shoulder throw, and threw Elk.

Most probably, Elk fell on the ground without understanding what actually happened.

Though, the place I chose to throw her was soft with somewhat grasses growing on, it shouldn’t be painful as it looks. Though, she is choking on the leakage of somewhat air which was present in her lungs.

「In terms of sharpness, the attack was fine, but the more larger you swing, the larger the gap is, we have to do something about it. In that case, the scariest would be the counter defense just like what I did」

「You mean making a countermeasure for it? For instance?」

「In my case, when I have to counter attack upon getting my fist blocked would be, rotating while dodging and using that momentum to dash out a roundhouse kick, moving inwards and then doing a tackle.」

「Setting the kick aside……I’m powerless, so tackles is impossible. So this is the new assignment.」

「Yep, analyze and cognize it yourself and it’s all good.」

I lend my hand to the exhausted-looking Elk for standing up.

She somewhat breathed heavily, but Elk finally stood on her own two feet.

In comparison with that, I am well, still with lots of composure. Even my breath isn’t disordered.

「Fuu……you seen too full of composure. Even the time in forest, or when we were fighting continuously, you were always calm. Just how much stamina you have got?」

「Dunno? Now that you say it, in the past some years, other than when training with mom, I have never exhausted my stamina」

「Ah, I see……」

The training with mom was……Yeah, just completely……Yep.

The situation where mom’s attack with power more than a bazooka, either fist, kick, with super fast speed coming at me from any direction was just too much. These two situations just can’t be compared.

Even more, not only close combat, she would even use magic, and attack from genuinely every direction with no dead angle to be found, unless and until I sharpened all my senses to their extent and used full speed along with power, I would’ve died easily.

With that much, my stamina and endurance would barely last 30 minutes or so.

Incidentally, during training, mom got too high because of happiness at my growth that she raised the level of her magic and the result……a scorched of 1 km of diameter, where no vegetation would ever grow, was created. At that time, well I almost fucking died.

Thinking about that, everything else just seems like eating a cake.

A full marathon can only be considered as a jogging to me, even a triathlon might be a good exercise.

……I thought about it after saying, but aren’t I myself quite a monster?

While I’m thinking that, Elk said words filled with sarcasm.

「Truly impressive, right……The great『Black Lion』」

Elk smirked.

「……Just stop with that……」

I become dejected.

☆☆☆

『Black Lion』

The『Second Name』of mine, which I was told by Zari the other day.

The originators were, unexpectedly, the subordinates of Suura-san who just happened to be in the carriage on that day.

According to what I hear, that『Recruit-oriented Group』was, well full of new recruits, and are great people who are considered as promising by the surroundings.

Moreover with this matter, where no matter what, not even one person may come back alive, they all made it back alive, this made them centre of topic.

Inevitably, it also reached to my『Adventurer in Black』stuff. Then they even added something totally pain in the ass thing like『If he wasn’t there, we would’ve been exterminated』.

At that time, some person unintentionally said my second name, and with that as the trigger, the name『Black Lion』came into existence.

……Currently, the name is being rapidly spread out.

It says,

That adventurer, without using magic, just uses his fist and legs to beat various kinds of demons to pulp.

It says,

He runs through the battlefield like a gale of wind, mows down every enemy, and even saved his comrades from crisis.

That bravery is exactly like a fierce lion……!

……Rumours like that too, are all what I heard from Zari.

Just F’ing Shut UP!! Don’t add that name which seems like Chuunibyou at it’s peak! Please I beg you!

Or rather, though I rarely use magic, but didn’t I damn use weapons! Ah, well, I think it doesn’t matter, but STILL!

And there more stuff to come,

Like, because he can defeat demons empty-handed『Deadly Body』

Like, because I use gauntlets, rod, iron ball, and all have black luster so I’m also called『Kurogane』

And because I wear black clothes all over and because I burnt the last grasshopper with just bare hands, I’m also called『Char-griller』

Starting from Chunibyou it goes away from it, and whats more, I’ve got lots of other second names for myself. I just damn HATE IT!!

Or rather, the last『Char-griller』, it sounds less of second name and more of insult to me.

While enduring the embarrassment which came by remembering it, I increased the speed for close combat with the person who made me this embarrassed, Elk.

And Elk was just having her hands full with evasion while shouting『Sorry! Really sorry!』, suddenly my ears catch the sound of something nearing us from the brushwood on the other side of vacant land, I even heard the breathing of that animal.

I looked over there only to find, two stray wolves who-god-knows-when entered here and were heading towards us, while drooling, revealing their hunger.

However, their prey wasn’t me or Elk, rather……a simple-looking bird sitting at a place slightly away from us, it was Alva.

As for that Alva, it’s sitting on the mountain of scraps rather than some tree, while watching the wolves. Surely he noticed them, but he doesn’t move.

There is still 20 meters between them, not a distance one could just cross in a single jump.

Even so, seeing the prey Alva not showing any signs of running, they thought he couldn’t move due to fear and so increased their speed.

Alva, as usual, didn’t move, not even a bit, just like sculpture.

And just like that, the moment them Wolves entered the jumping range area,

SFX: HhYyUuBbOo!

The fired off-fireball magic hit one of the wolf……and blasted away the whole skull of the wolf starting from the upper jaw to the crown of head.

The lower jaw which lost its support and joints just kept on hanging languidly like a splatter.

The comrade, who was by its side, had its over-all length shrank in a second, it got scared, and the other wolf stiffened and stopped moving.

Immediately after, Alva, still as usual, soared the sky without making flapping sounds, and this time fired ice pillars counting more than the numbers of fingers on both hands.

The other one, though didn’t get by all ice pillars, but some of them hit it, and this guy dead too.

Both were magic, I’ve got no recollection of teaching, yet I have seen them being used somewhere.

Both of us saw Alva with half interest and half astonishment.

It is a scene which I had seen quite a lot recently.

Frankly speaking, during our fight in『Crimson Forest』, Alva had been watching the whole fight from inside the carriage, saw the various sorts of magic used by Suura-san and others, and learned them on its own.

Seriously~ though I heard from Irene-san, turns out this guy is seriously out of the norm……!

Alva learns magic just by watching it, and based on circumstances he reproduces them to such an extent which could put the original version to shame.

Along with that, recently, I have been feeding it fine quality food with the meat from『Subspecies』as centre -seems like the more it eats the more powerful it becomes- and its magical power and normal power too are raised.

The magic which he fires now are completely better than me, or rather, near completely than the magic shot out by a common knight.

The variation also increased, at some point which I, as usual, didn’t know about.

Variations like the『Fireball』just now, or the ice magic, whose name I don’t know, and also the sand magic Zari used, along with the lightning magic which someone used at some point.

Moreover, currently it can also use the wind bullet or wind blade magic which the『Subspecies』used.

……Even so, isn’t this guy just a week old, right?

Seeing my own pet doing things I cannot do with just wild instinct made me feel jealous, but it’s from that sort of race and I didn’t have talent in this area from before, like that I got over my jealousy in just ten seconds.

In that way, I have two rookies (?) with promising future as my disciples.

In the sparring with Elk from now on, I am thinking of making more of a real combat bit by bit. Coincidentally going on further with the magic training too.

At this rate, in near future, she would show results which would not only surprise herself but even me. No, the parts she already knows, from now on, may get an accelerated growth.

By the time her movements become more refined, and she becomes more adept at handling magic……or maybe near perfect, then maybe I can teach some of my original magic to her.

As for Alva, I just need good food to feed him……the rest of improvement; can’t he do it on its own?

The only thing I can do for it are, to take it out for stroll in different places and showing it different types of magic. Either way, I cannot teach it the magic which could be fired, in the first place me teaching Alva that would be like lecturing Buddha about enlightenment. Alva will learn on its own just by watching.

I heard this from Irene-san too that, in high ranking races like Alva’s Nevalides, ones who inherit some amount of intellect and knowledge from the parents are common.

Alva is an exception even among them, that’s why it has got good brains. It knows the way to use magic from the start, and even knows that food with magical power stuffed inside is needed for growth.

Alva already knew the way to fly in sky, and how to fly without making sound, moreover it mastered it after just a little bit of training.

And more than anything, whilst being just a week old, he already understood us humans’ language, due to which he would listen to order and do it perfectly.

This is somewhat ominous, but still I can’t wait to see its growth too. Based on circumstances, it might fill up my weakness, the use of magic.

Well, I did thought that he is not just any soothing pet.

At any rate, let it be Elk or Alva, the fact I’m raising such great talented people (talented bird) is more than enough to make me happy. I now understand why cultivation games of this theme were fad for some time.

「Well Alva is also improving little-by-little, shan’t we too continue?」

「……Indeed」

☆☆☆

20 minutes later,

After finishing the first phase of the sparring, which had been growing longer per time, both of us were taking a rest after dealing with the sweat. Alva was perching on my shoulder, as if it had been waiting for this. Oh this cute little bastard.

Currently, eating, the mood is of picnic. We thought that we should eat outside too once in a while, so the packed lunch we brought, meat of『Subspecies』was being ate by him,

Just, this meat of『Subspecies』……well, the stock might be running low.

Even the appetite of the growing Alva is a great deal, but though I dry the food, it still gets spoiled easily, depending on the parts, there were also those which couldn’t be eaten due to their state.

That’s why, at this pace it would last till three or four days.

「Elk, according to Suura-san……Exceed Hoppers should be present on the other side of Ritoras Mountain, right?」

「Yep. After that I tried searching more info about it and found that they live in a place called『Green Canyon』, a ravine present on the other side of mountain……eh, don’t tell me you want to go there?」

「……Alva’s food is about to finish, so I was thinking of taking a jogging around there, and just by chance hunting new food」

「……That’s impossible for you. Keeping your strength aside, with your poor sense of direction, even having a map with you……, you would surely be lost in the Ritoras Mountain before you even reach the place」

「……Can’t you accompany me?」

「Sorry, that’s just too much. That place is a leading danger area around this city; even the demons appearing there are high-ranked……I just can’t get close to there. Even with you, it’s going to be dangerous」

「I see……」

Well, can’t be helped. As for me, I think demons of that rank wouldn’t be much of trouble, but let alone returning back, me reaching there also seems an impossible wish.

Of course, if Elk accompanied me, I will protect her with full power, but going through a danger area with that high of danger level is going to be hard, physically and mentally too. She hates it, so I can’t forcibly ask her to accompany me to such an Danger Area.

Sigh, what shall I do?

No well……in the『forest』there are demons with magical power, like Red Lizard or Magic Bunny -It would still require Elk to guide me- , but it possible I want to feed Alva good stuff.

「So a good news for the current Minato-kun♪」

「Waaah!?」

And, due to the sudden voice of Zari, who appeared from behind by vanishing his presence, Elk jumped up. I, of course, knew about it, but still ignored, including the words he just said.

Alva also seemed to know about it, so reaction by it too.

Wait? This guy got a wide network of information, right? In that case, maybe he can tell me other demons with good amount of magical energy stuffed in them, just like that『Subspecies』.

So, attacking while the iron is hot, I asked Zari, and as he was eavesdropping from before, he knew about my situation.

「Didn’t I just say, A GOOD NEWS. In truth, currently on the summit of Ritoras Mountain, some migratory birds’ called『Canfolus』have come, oh and they have magical energy」

「Eh!? For Real!?」

「For real. Them rank are D. Well the amount of magical energy would lose to that『Subspecies』, but I have heard that the purity of magical energy is almost the same. Shouldn’t you try at least once on them」

Whoah, this is damn great news! Even their levels, and the habitat, yeah, it’s completely reasonable and convenient.

In the Ritoras Mountains, where demons are of low ranks, a group of Rank D demons came out, means the guild might have already warned to newbie to not go near the summit, however, to me and Alva that is a good news.

Taking a glance at Elk, she showed eyes as if wanting to say『Can’t be helped』and nodded.

「Alva, the next food candidate is a bird, are you fine with cannibalism?」

-Piiiiiiii! (Agreed)

Alrighty! Now that it’s decided, we need to hunt before they are hunted! Hit while the iron is hot!!!

「Alrighty! Then Zari, thanks for the info there! I’m in a hurry, will give you the gratitude later」

「No problemo, before you go there is still one more message for you. The glassed receptionist told you to come for the update of card as your assessment is already done」

「Yeah, Roger」

Then, I will go there after hunting that『Canfolus』or whatever demon.

「Then, let’s go now, Elk, Alva」

「Yes yes……please go slow, or I might throw up」

-PiiiiiIiIIIIi!

I will take care of it!

☆☆☆

……By the way,

After hunting the Canfolus, which just happened to be many, so thinking about future I hunted around ten of then (will smoke ‘em all), then returned to the guild.

Should I say expected, inside the guild, our guild card was updated under the stares of others.

With great frequency, I had defeated many demons, so compared to when 『Naga』was defeated, my『assessment』took more time, and after some minutes, the result was engraved on our guild card.

Minato Quadrille

Rank: A

Elk Caucus

Rank: D

……Great, now I don’t have to worry about it.

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